Malaysia has deported six Egyptians and a Tunisian suspected of being linked to Islamist militant groups abroad, despite protests from human rights groups.
The suspects include five people who allegedly confessed to being part of Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood, Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun said in a statement on Sunday.
Rights groups say that members of the group face possible torture and persecution in Egypt, which brands them as terrorists.
The Tunisian and one of the Egyptians deported were members of Ansar al-Sharia al-Tunisia, which is listed as a terrorist group by the United Nations, Mohamad Fuzi said.
The two, both in their early 20s, had previously been detained for attempting to enter another country illegally in 2016. They allegedly used fake passports to enter Malaysia with the intention of traveling to and launching an attack in a third country, police said.
“Members of this terror group are suspected of being involved in plans to carry out large-scale attacks in other countries,” Mohamad Fuzi said.
The other five Egyptians confessed to being members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and are accused of providing shelter, transport and employment for the two linked to Ansar al-Sharia.
“As the presence of these foreigners constitute a security risk, all suspects have been deported to their native country and... recommendations have been made to blacklist them from entering Malaysia for life,” Mohamad Fuzi said, adding that two Malaysians were detained in the counter-terror operation.
Amnesty International Malaysia said the Egyptians deported were now at risk of enforced disappearance, torture, prolonged detention and unfair trials, Reuters reported.
“We urge the Malaysian government to respect the principle of non-refoulement and ensure that those at risk of persecution or risk of irreparable harm in another country, including torture, are not deported,” said the group’s executive director Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu.
Malaysia has arrested hundreds of people in the past few years for suspected links to militant groups, after gunmen allied with the Islamic State carried out a series of attacks in Jakarta, the capital of neighbouring Indonesia, in January 2016.
A grenade attack on a bar on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, in June 2016 wounded eight people. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, the first such strike on Malaysian soil.