The Burmese Rohingyas detained for staging a protest outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Kuala Lumpur last week claim that their refugee cards issued by the agency were confiscated by immigration officers.

Their spokesperson, Hafiz Mohd Motul, when contacted today at the Semenyih immigration camp, expressed concern over the situation.

"Last Friday, immigration officers questioned us, took a statement from us and took away our UNHCR cards which recognises us as refugees. I'm really unsure of what is going to happen to us now," he said.

The document - the only legal identification paper they possess - is issued by UNHCR for persons of concern to the international refugee agency and indicates that those in its possession are on a waiting list to be resettled to third countries.

The 24 Rohingyas, including women and children, staged the protest last Monday to express their anger over the protracted delay in being resettled. One of them claimed to have waited for 14 years.

Following the eight-hour protest, during which the adults also launched a hunger strike, the group was detained by immigration personnel.

Out of desperation

The Rohingyas said they resorted to protesting out of desperation. They cannot find work or send their children to school here and also have to live under the constant fear of being arrested and deported back to their homeland, where persecution awaits.

At the time of their arrest, the Rohingyas had the UNHCR documents in their possession.

Human rights groups have condemned their detention especially given the fact that they possess protection letters recognising them as people fleeing human rights abuses in their homeland.

UNHCR had also denied that it is delaying the resettlement and blamed resettlement countries for being reluctant to take in Rohingyas.

The common resettlement countries for UNHCR protected refugees are Canada, United States of America, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

The Malaysian government had also announced in October last year that the Rohingyas would be granted temporary residency permits. However, it has not been implemented till today.

Three missing

Meanwhile Hafiz said that three among those who were detained in the protest were not brought to the Semenyih detention camp and their whereabouts are unknown.

"We have asked but we don't know where they are or where they've been taken to. A woman and her two children are missing while her husband is here with us with his two other sons," he added.

Among those detained were two pregnant women who are in their first trimester of pregnancy.

Contacted later, UNHCR chief representative in Malaysia Volker Turk said if these allegations were true, it is a "serious matter".

He said these claims would be investigated, adding that the agency kept records of all those in possession of its protection papers.

"We have also informed the authorities on the names of those in our protection who were detained. We have been informed that the authorities will take two weeks for the investigations," said Turk

He added that UNHCR will wait for the results of the investigations and what charges are brought against the detainees (if any) before being able to act appropriately on the situation.

In protest situations, demonstrators - including refugees - are normally charged with either breaching the law for illegal assembly or with immigration offences such as illegal entry.

The Rohingya do not posses passports or citizenship documents and are deemed stateless by the Burmese miliary junta which rules its country.

Malaysia is a non-signatory to the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention which protects asylum seekers and refugees.

The immigration department could not be reached for comment.