Rohingya refugees detained in Malaysia

Malaysian authorities detained more than 100 Rohingya asylum seekers on Monday in Kuala Lumpur, after the group had been evicted from their settlement in the coastal state of Penang.

The asylum-seekers had made the journey from Penang, more than 200 miles northwest of Kuala Lumpur, to the office of the UN High Commission for Refugees in the capital city.

Reports say the group consisted of 113 refugees –110 of them Rohingya – some of whom, at least, were documented with the UNHCR.

Penang regional police issued a statement saying the refugees moved “voluntarily” with the assistance of state and federal authorities, but Reuters cited refugees who said local residents had driven them from their dwellings.

Reuters reported the refugees as saying they traveled to the capital by bus, in the night between Sunday and Monday, in hope of obtaining resettlement assistance from UNHCR.

Police in the capital reportedly removed the refugees and their belongings from their position outside the UNHCR office and took them to police headquarters.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim made a statement on the incident, in which he said the detention of the refugees in the capital came in the wake of citizen complaints.

“No one