A human rights lawyer has condemned the government's move to deport Syrian refugee Hassan Al Kontar, who was arrested on Aug 1 after living in KLIA2 for seven months.

In a statement, Lawyers for Liberty executive director Latheefa Koya said that the Home Ministry has the discretion to authorise the Immigration Department to grant Hassan temporary shelter pending his asylum application to Canada.

"Why detain and investigate him like a common criminal?

"This is the kind of thing the BN regime used to do, as they had little regard for international obligations or refugee rights," said Latheefa.

Latheefa was responding to Deputy Home Minister Azis Jamman saying on Thursday that Hassan had to be detained and investigated by police as he had rejected apparent offers of asylum from several other countries.

"The deputy minister must realise that there is vast difference between an asylum seeker and a migrant who willfully entered the country illegally.

"Asylum seekers like Hassan cannot be treated like illegal migrants and be locked up," she stressed.

Latheefa (photo) added that the Immigration Department's move to prolong Hassan's detention to faciliate his deportation to Syria is in breach of Malaysia's international obligation to uphold the principle of non-refoulement, or the "non-return of asylum seekers to their countries of origin for fear of persecution and risk to their life."

"The deputy home minister should ensure Hassan's immediate release, process his asylum request by referring him to UNHCR, and grant him temporary settlement pending his final resettlement.

"What is so difficult about that?"

As the lawyer argued, refugees have the right to choose their countries of asylum, adding that Hassan had expressed his wish to go to Canada as he has relatives there, and that the country welcomes Syrian refugees.

"So the suggestion that Hassan is 'choosy' or 'picky' about his country for resettlement is uncalled for and not a reason to detain him further," she added.

Immigration Department director-general Mustafar Ali said on Wednesday that Hassan was detained by police for being in the airport’s restricted zone, and that he would be handed over to the department once the police have completed their investigation.

According to Mustafar, Hassan claimed that he refused to return to Syria as he was afraid of being forced to become a soldier.

During his 'stay' at the KLIA2 terminal, Hassan regularly shared details of his life in transit on social media.

This garnered attention from many parties who likened him to Tom Hanks' character in the movie The Terminal.