Seven boat people hospitalized in KL

Seven boat people hospitalized in KL

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): At least seven Vietnamese asylum-seekers, remanded in a Malaysian jail last month for rioting, have been hospitalized following a hunger strike, Bernama news agency reported yesterday.

The Vietnamese were admitted late Monday, the agency quoted sources as saying.

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) here declined to comment. The seven were among 20 remanded in jail for rioting and possession of weapons on June 6.

More than 4,000 Vietnamese broke out of the refugee camp at Sungei Besi outside here that day, with some threatening suicide unless they were resettled in third countries.

They were protesting against the Malaysian government's decision to repatriate all asylum-seekers deemed non-refugees by Aug. 31.