The United Nations refugee agency in Kuala Lumpur clarified today that the group of Burmese Rohingyas who invaded the agency's compound last week were not asylum seekers but were "rejected asylum seekers".

United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said that it had exhausted all options under its mandate to provide protection to the Rohingya immigrants in Malaysia.

The agency's decision to allow the police to arrest the protestors has come under intense criticism by a number of human rights groups.

Kubo Shinji, protection officer at the UNHCR, said that all 28 who entered the agency's compound were interviewed but did not qualify for asylum under the agency's mandate.

"Unfortunately, we have concluded that we do not have the basis to help most of the 2,000 immigrants who applied to the UNHCR in the past," said Kubo during a telephone interview with malaysiakini.

The 28 illegal immigrants from the Burmese Rohingya Muslim community entered the UNHCR compound last Friday and camped out overnight in an attempt to gain asylum in a third country.

The group comprising 12 men, 10 women and 6 children was arrested by the police the following day and handed over to immigration authorities.

Unaware of other arrests

Kubo stated that the UNHCR was unaware of any other arrests by police of the Rohingyas aside from the 28 who entered the agency's compound.

Kubo was responding to allegations by Altsean, a Bangkok-based human rights lobby group, that four other Rohingyas were arrested by police after a second group of 20 immigrants attempted to enter the UNHCR compound later.

Kubo said the other Rohingyas who were present at the UNHCR building last week had pre-arranged appointments to submit their asylum applications.

"Several asylum seekers who came for the appointments were safely returned," said Kubo, adding that the agency arranges for asylum seekers to approach the agency without being detained when doing so.

When asked about the letters issue by the UNHCR in 1992 acknowledging the status of the Rohingyas as refugees from the Arakan state in Burma, Kubo said the letters were not intended as a refugee permit.

"The letters were purely a matter of registration to prepare the refugees for deportation to Burma in accordance with UNHCR policy," said Kubo, adding that the immigrants did not go through individual screening by the UNHCR when the letters were issued.

"They (the Rohingyas) were never individually recognised as refugees," he said.

However, he added that although the agency is unable to assist those previously rejected on an individual basis, it hopes to be part of the solution to the problem of the unclarified status of the Rohingyas as a group.

Religious persecution

Around 250,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Burma in 1991-92 alleging religious persecution by the military government but most were later repatriated with the help of the United Nations.

According to Kubo, a UNHCR office was set up in Mandaw in Burma to monitor the situation of at least 230,000 Rohingyas who were repatriated from Bangladesh in 1994.

Kubo also said that the agency could not verify the claim by Human Rights Watch, a lobby group based in the United States, that at least 50,000 of the refugees have been untraceable.

Meanwhile, deputy director of the Immigration Department, Ahmad Ismail, today confirmed that the 28 illegals have been held at the Semenyih detention camp since last Saturday evening.

"They have no documentation but claim that they are Burmese. The immigration authorities at Semenyih are now checking with Burmese authorities to establish their identities," said Ahmad when contacted.

He added that the camp authorities will arrange for their deportation after the investigations.

The Rohingya Muslims are an ethnic community from the Arakan state in west Burma who have been denied citizenship by the Burmese government.