(AFP) Malaysia will deport a Burma pro-democracy activist who staged a protest in Kuala Lumpur but will not send him back to his home country, a security official said today.

"Just like any other Burmese detainee he will be deported to the Malaysian-Thai border in a month," said Nasri Mokhtar, head of the centre where Peter Hee Man was being held.

Hee Man was arrested with three Malaysians on March 27 after some 20 activists gatecrashed a Burmese embassy party and stripped off to reveal T-shirts depicting Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Malaysians were detained overnight and released while Hee Man was held in police custody.

On Tuesday he was transferred to the Macap Umboo detention centre for illegal immigrants in the southern state of Malacca.

Political asylum

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and human rights groups have urged the government not to deport Hee Man to his home country saying they feared for his safety at the hands of Burma's military junta.

Nasri said that Hee Man was considered an illegal immigrant and would be deported. There had been no cases of illegal immigrants from Burma being sent back directly to their country, he added.

Burma Solidarity Group Malaysia member K P Lee, one of those arrested with Hee Man, repeated a call for the UNHCR to interview Hee Man urgently to determine if he could be granted political asylum.

"We are trying to push the UNHCR to interview Hee Man," he said.

No request for interview

Nasri said UN officials had not requested to meet Hee Man. "They can come and see me anytime to make arrangements to interview the detainee," he said.

The Malaysian rights group Aliran said last week that to deport Hee Man to his home country would be "an inhuman act that would condemn him to torture or even death at the hands of the ruthless Burmese military junta".

Another rights group, Bangkok-based Altsean-Burma, said it also had "grave concerns" for the safety of Hee Man should he fall into the hands of Burma's State Peace and Development Council.