Refugees arrested outside US embassy
Two Acehnese refugees were arrested by police outside the United States embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 11 as they attempted to lay flowers at the mission's gates.
The incident occurred during the embassy's closure last week over security concerns on the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC.
According to Suaram coordinator S Arutchelvam, the two United Nations-recognised refugees are currently held at the Cheras Baru police station as they await transfer to an illegal immigrants' detention centre.
"We have notified the US embassy and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of the arrests," said Arutchelvam when contacted today.
However, US embassy press officer Frank Whitaker could not confirm the arrests, saying that the mission "is not aware if any persons had been arrested outside the embassy last week".
The embassy was closed from Sept 11 to 15 due to a 'credible' security threat.
Resettlement in the US
Meanwhile, UNHCR protection officer Shinji Kubo said that attempts by the refugee agency to intervene for the release of the two refugees have so far been unsuccessful.
"As of Friday afternoon, the police said that the refugees cannot be released. We need to re-negotiate for their release when they are (put under the charge of) immigration authorities," he said during a telephone interview.
According to Kubo, the two Achenese refugees were recognised under the UNHCR mandate as refugees and had been approved for resettlement in the US.
"They have been accepted by the US. They would be going to the US if they had waited quietly for the departure," he added.
No response from government
Kubo said that in addition to the two men arrested on Wednesday, another 10 to 15 refugees have been arrested by police as part of a crackdown on illegal immigrants in the past few weeks.
"Most of them are Acehnese and they are now held in several different immigration camps. Many of them have also been accepted for resettlement," he said.
The UN official said that based on past experience, the Malaysian government had generally agreed for these refugees who were arrested to remain at detention centres until the UNHCR sets a departure date for them to leave to the accepting country.
"We have started to inform the government of the arrested refugees," said Kubo. However, when asked about the government's response, Kubo said that the officials from the Home Affairs Ministry do not normally offer a response.
The Malaysian government had announced that new tough provisions of the Immigration Act allowing for whipping and jailing of illegal immigrants would be applied to all persons without legal documentation, including refugees and asylum seekers.
Immigration department director-general Mohd Jamal Kamdi said late July that no exception will be made for any refugees since Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.
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