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Malaysian opposition condemn deportation of over 1,000 people to Myanmar in wake of coup

MALAYSIAN opposition MPs today condemned the deportation of over 1,000 Burmese immigrants in defiance of a court order.

A high court ruled on Tuesday that 1,200 Myanmar nationals’ deportation should be stayed pending an appeal by Asylum Access Malaysia and Amnesty International, which said that the group included children as well as asylum-seekers.

But the Immigration Department later announced that 1,086 of them had been sent home on three Burmese naval vessels – despite concerns over mass arrests in the country amid protests against the recent military coup.

Officials claimed the people returned had chosen to go home, but four MPs said the move showed “the Malaysian government does not respect the ongoing court process.”

The Myanmar coup government’s Foreign Minister Colonel Wunna Maung Lwin was in Bangkok today for talks with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who also came to power in a military seizure of power. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi attended as part of what Jakarta said were efforts to co-ordinate a regional response to the recent coup.

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