Twenty Burmese nationals with refugee status were sentenced to three months jail after pleading guilty at the Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court for flouting immigration laws.

The group, of Chin ethnicity, are recognised as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). However, the Malaysian government does not recognise this status as it is not a signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees.

The Chins, including two women, who had been detained since mid-April admitted that they had committed an offence under Section 6 (1) C of the Immigration Act of entering the country without valid travel documents.

However, 13 other Chins and 24 Rohingyan Burmese stated they were asylum-seekers registered with the UNHCR and chose to claim trial to the same charge.

Magistrate Mohd Aimi Zaini Mohd Azhar set June 27 for the hearing.

The Chin and Rohingyas were among a group of about 65 refugees from Burma, Liberia, Cambodia, Aceh and Bangladesh who were brought to the magistrate's court this morning.

While most of the Chin and Rohingyas claimed trail, one Acehnese and Bangladeshi refugee pleaded guilty and were sentenced to three months imprisonment.

In another court, two Liberians and one Cambodian pleaded guilty and were sentenced to two to three months imprisonment.

During the court proceeding before Mohd Aimi, Rohingyan Rehena Bibi Zafar Ahmad was seen holding on to her four-year-old daughter Sufia Hafiz as the charge was read out in Burmese by an interpreter.

It is believed that Sufia had been with her mother throughout the detention.

Another detainee, Hamid Kamal was seen wrapping his handcuffed hands around his five-year-old son as his wife looked on. Both Rehena and Hamid were among those who claimed trial.

Detained in Semenyih

Met outside the court later, a Rohingya community leader Zafar Ahmad Mohd Abdul Ghani said 15 Rohingyas were arrested and detained by immigration officers in an operation in Klang on Sunday.

Zafar, who heads the Kuala Lumpur-based Rohingya human rights watch, added that they are currently detained at the immigration detention center in Semenyih and will be brought to court sometime next month.

"I plead with the Malaysian government, the immigration authorities and the police not to arrest any more Rohingyas. Life is already difficult being a refugee. Please do not make it any more difficult by arresting and detaining us," he said.

Last October, the government gave the assurance that it would recognise Rohingyas as refugees seeking asylum in Malaysia and would not subject them to arrest and detention.

Malaysiakini has reported, however, on the continuation of operations against all undocumented migrants.

Both the Chins and Rohingyas claim to face persecution in their home country at the hands of the ruling military regime.