The Kuala Lumpur Magistrate's court today set Nov 17 for mention of a case against nine Burmese nationals charged with immigration offences following their arrest outside two embassies in Kuala Lumpur in June.

The lawyer representing the group Jonson Chong said a request was submitted to the Attorney-General's Chambers calling for the case to be dropped on grounds that the nine were not economic migrants but refugees and asylum seekers.

During a mention this morning, the court set Nov 17 for the parties to decide whether the case against the Burmese nationals was to proceed.

Of the group, six are Burmese Rohingyas who were arrested on June 16 when they attempted to seek asylum at the United States embassy.

The remaining three were detained in a separate incident a week later while demonstrating for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi outside the Burmese embassy.

Stateless people

According to Chong, the appeal to the AG's Chambers was submitted based on recent developments in the asylum applications of the Burmese.

He said two of the men arrested outside the Burmese embassy were recognised as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) while a third person was in the process of appealing the initial rejection to his application.

"For this third person, I think there is prima facie evidence that he will be prosecuted if he is deported back to Burma because he participated in the demonstration," he added.

Chong said the case against the Rohingyas should also be dropped because of the lack of choice they faced as a de facto stateless people.

"The Rohingyas have been categorised as 'persons of concern' by the UNHCR. The agency has said that it is trying to work out some arrangements with the government."

If convicted, the Burmese are liable to maximum fines of RM10,000 or jail terms not exceeding five years or both and mandatory whipping up to six strokes of the cane.

AG's Chambers prosecution head was unavailable for comment.

Resettlement difficulties

When contacted, UNHCR refugee eligibility officer Evan Ruth confirmed that two of the Burmese men were provisionally accepted for resettlement in Denmark.

He explained that the agency had assigned group categorisation of the Rohingyas as 'persons of concern' as opposed to recognising their status as refugees individually.

"We have had great difficulty resettling the Rohingyas so the solution (to their situation) does not lie in a third country but in Malaysia," he said, adding that discussions were still ongoing with the authorities.

On another development, Ruth said the UNHCR was still pursuing the release of 350 asylum seekers and refugees from various immigration camps, including more than 100 Acehnese arrested outside the agency's compound in August.

Of the group, Ruth said 33 were recognised refugees of various nationalities.

"We are now arranging for resettlement of the refugees. Not all of them will be successful but for those who are accepted, we hope to resettle them by the end of the year."