Malaysia High Court stays Khairuzzaman’s deportation

The deportation of Bangladesh's former high commissioner to Malaysia, Mohamed Khairuzzaman, has been halted by the Malaysian High Court.

The court ordered Malaysia's immigration agency not to hand over Khairuzzaman to Bangladeshi authorities.

Following a hearing on the habeas corpus case, Malaysian High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan issued this interim decision on Tuesday.

"I don't want to hear that he has been deported against this court order that I have granted," Justice Zaini stated, according to a report by Free Malaysia Today, a local news portal.

The date for hearing Khairuzzaman's writ petition has been set for May 20.

Khairuzzaman, 65, is wanted in Bangladesh for unidentified reasons, according to the Free Malaysia Today article, but his wife, Rieta Rahman, has claimed that his arrest was politically motivated by the Bangladesh government.

Malaysian immigration officials arrested Khairuzzaman on February 9 in the town of Ampang in the province of Selangor.

According to Mohamed Khairuzzaman's lawyer, AS Dhaliwal, his client is a political refugee. He is a UNHCR card holder who has not broken any immigration laws. As a result, arresting him is illegal.

“My client has valid travel documents and was not even working here, he was just at home. He is a political refugee and Malaysia has no right to deport him,” he told FMT.