The Immigration Department said today that Muhammed Sayed Muhammed Yunus, a Burmese activist detained at the Langkap detention camp for participating in a peaceful demonstration in October last year, is an illegal immigrant with no valid documentation from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

"As far as we are concerned, he is an illegal immigrant waiting for deportation back to his home country," Ipoh Immigration Enforcement Division director Mahmud Mushidi said when contacted by malaysiakini.

"The UNHCR has not sent us any concrete documents to support his claim as a UNHCR refugee," Mahmud added.

Malaysiakini reported yesterday that Muhammed Sayed, a Muslim Rohingya, was arrested by police at his home in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 25 and has been detained in the detention camp in Perak for the past three months. He is awaiting deportation to his home country where he faces an uncertain fate from the Burmese military regime.

He was alleged to have participated in a protest on Sept 9 last year in conjunction with a global campaign calling on the military junta to reconvene Parliament in Burma. The demonstration was held in front of the Burmese Embassy and various groups of Burmese including Muhammed Sayed also distributed "Free Burma" balloons and Aung San Suu Kyi''s "Courage" badges near the Central Market on the same day.

Muhammed Sayed was a former student leader in Burma and had to flee the country in 1988 to seek asylum in India before going to Thailand and later Malaysia. A campaigner of the National League for Democracy (NLD), he subscribes to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's belief in using non-violent methods when championing social causes.

According to the coordinator of the Burma Solidarity Group Malaysia, K.P. Lee, Muhammed Sayed is a refugee protected by UNHCR.

Lee added that Muhammed Sayed was to be deported to Thailand on Feb 1, but parties concerned with his plight managed to obtain a temporary stay of deportation. Despite his stay of deportation, Mohammed Sayed's current position is far from secure. He has applied for resettlement in Australia but the application is pending.

DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok who has intervened in the matter told malaysiakini that she had faxed a letter to the Ipoh Immigration Department explaining Muhammed Sayed's status to obtain a stay of deportation on his behalf.

"I sent in a letter with documents supporting Muhammed Sayed's status as a UNHCR refugee to the Immigration officer in Ipoh," said Kok.

Mahmud confirmed that he received the letter from Kok but added that the department could not accept any letters from other organisations claiming that Muhammed Sayed was a UNHCR refugee unless the authorisation was directly from the UNHCR.

"We only accept concrete and valid documents," Mahmud stressed. "We will have to send him back to Burma unless the UNHCR or the Australian government confirms that Muhammed Sayed will be given asylum in Australia."

An Australian High Commission official yesterday refused to comment on Muhammed Sayed's case except to confirm that there was an application from him for resettlement in Australia.

Meanwhile, numerous attempts to reach the officer-in-charge in the UNHCR had proved unsuccessful. Malaysiakini was informed that the officer was involved with other matters yesterday and would not be in the office today. His secretary said that no one else in the organisation was authorised to speak to the press.