<p>Malaysia on Tuesday deported over 1,000 Myanmar nationals back to their homeland just weeks after a coup, the country's immigration chief said, despite a court order halting the repatriation and a storm of criticism from rights groups.</p>.<p>Authorities sent back 1,086 detainees on three Myanmar navy ships from a military base on Malaysia's west coast, Malaysian immigration chief Khairul Dzaimee Daud said.</p>.<p>"The immigration department wants to emphasise that no Rohingya migrants or asylum seekers have been sent back," he said in a statement. "All of those who have been deported agreed to return of their own free will, without being forced."</p>.<p>The statement made no mention of a ruling from the Kuala Lumpur High Court just hours earlier order that the repatriation is halted so that rights groups could present a challenge arguing for the repatriation to be stopped.</p>.<p>Activists have raised concerns that there are asylum seekers among those being deported, while the United States and United Nations had also criticised the plan.</p>
<p>Malaysia on Tuesday deported over 1,000 Myanmar nationals back to their homeland just weeks after a coup, the country's immigration chief said, despite a court order halting the repatriation and a storm of criticism from rights groups.</p>.<p>Authorities sent back 1,086 detainees on three Myanmar navy ships from a military base on Malaysia's west coast, Malaysian immigration chief Khairul Dzaimee Daud said.</p>.<p>"The immigration department wants to emphasise that no Rohingya migrants or asylum seekers have been sent back," he said in a statement. "All of those who have been deported agreed to return of their own free will, without being forced."</p>.<p>The statement made no mention of a ruling from the Kuala Lumpur High Court just hours earlier order that the repatriation is halted so that rights groups could present a challenge arguing for the repatriation to be stopped.</p>.<p>Activists have raised concerns that there are asylum seekers among those being deported, while the United States and United Nations had also criticised the plan.</p>