PUTRAJAYA’S decision to deport over 1,000 Myanmar nationals in defiance of a court order is inhumane, said Amnesty International Malaysia’s executive director Katrina Jorene Maliamauv.

“We are shocked that the government went ahead with the deportation,” she said in a statement this evening after the Immigration Department confirmed the deportation of 1,086 Myanmar nationals it had been holding in its detention centres since last year.

The deportation took place today from the Lumut naval base, despite an interim stay by the Kuala Lumpur High Court against the Malaysian government from carrying out the move.

Maliamauv added that the authorities’ earlier claim that there were no asylum seekers in the group was “patently false”.

“There are still huge, deeply concerning question marks over the status of those sent back today.

“Authorities must restore the United Nations’ access to detention centres and allow it to carry out its life-saving work as we cannot continue to deny the basic humanity of those who have sought work or safety on our shores,” she said.

Migrant rights groups also reacted, with Women for Refugees co-founder Arissa Jemaima said Malaysia had sent the Myanmar nationals back to more danger, following the February 1 coup by the military against an elected government.

“The Myanmar nationals fleeing from the junta are essentially asylum-seekers as they are fleeing from violence committed by their own government,” she said.

Mahi Ramakrishnan, the founder of Beyond Borders said refugees and irregular migrants should not be repatriated, more so when there are ongoing human rights violations in their country of origin.

“In this regard, Malaysia is not just in violation of the court order but also in contempt of the non-refoulement principles that it’s bound by.

“We cannot keep using the excuse of not wanting to be a hub for illegal migration to send people to face persecution or even death in their home country

“What the Immigration did today is heinous,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

Glorene Das of Tenaganita said the government had committed contempt of court.

“Since when has the Immigration Department got the power to overrule the court’s decision.

“This total disrespect of the court’s decision and the arrogance of Immigration Department is mindblowing

“According to the statement given by the Immigartion Department, it said those deported agreed to return voluntarily but how are we to verify this,” she added.

The high court’s order for an interim stay on the deportation was pending a leave hearing on the matter tomorrow.

The stay was applied by two groups, Amnesty International Malaysia and Asylum Access Malaysia, which jointly sought a judicial review of the deportation.

The Immigration Department in a statement earlier this evening said the deportation was of Myanmar nationals that did not include ethnic Rohingya, whom Malaysia has mostly welcomed in the past.

The department also claimed that all who were deported had voluntarily agreed to return to Myanmar.

They were taken on buses and trucks to the Lumut naval base, and boarded three Myanmar navy ships. – February 23, 2021.