Malaysia begins sending thousands of Myanmar nationals back to war-torn homeland

Malaysia began an operation to send nearly 1,500 Myanmar nationals back to their war-torn homeland on Tuesday, pressing ahead with a government-to-government repatriation deal despite warnings that returnees could face persecution and forced conscription.

The first group of 1,476 is part of an agreement to return 5,000 people held in Malaysian immigration facilities under a programme Kuala Lumpur describes as voluntary, though human rights groups say it lacks adequate safeguards.