Malaysia begins returning Rohingya refugees to Myanmar despite UN safety warnings

Malaysia has begun returning nearly 1,500 Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, the first phase of a 5,000-person repatriation despite UN warnings that the country remains unsafe.

• The first group of about 1,476 returnees arrived by bus under police escort at a stadium near Malaysia's Lumut naval base, where journalists were barred.
• Two Myanmar naval warships and a hospital ship will transport the returnees, part of a 5,000-person repatriation agreed by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in July.
• UNHCR said it had no role in the operation and warned that ongoing conflict meant conditions for safe and dignified returns did not exist.
• Doctors Without Borders urged Malaysia to halt the returns and disclose who was being sent back and the risks each person faced.
• Human rights groups condemned the repatriation, warning returnees face violence, persecution and forced conscription.
• Malaysia barred the UN refugee agency from screening the Rohingya detainees before the returns.
• Latheefa Koya, former head of Malaysia's anti-corruption commission, called the move disgraceful and amoral.
• Interior Minister Saifuddin Nasution defended the repatriation, describing it as addressing a chronic burden for Malaysia.