The police chief of Malaysia’s Senagor state police, Hussein Omar Khan, told Reuters on Tuesday that police in the Malaysian state of Senagor are investigating the disappearance of Myanmar refugee and activist Thuzar Mong and her family. Khan’s comments come two days after Human Rights Watch urged the Malaysian government to look into the July 4, 2023 abduction of Myanmar refugee activist Thuzar Maung and her family.

Thuzar Maung fled to Malaysia from Myanmar’s violence against Muslims in 2015. She had been active in various local refugee organizations while working with Myanmar’s government in exile, the National Unity Government.  She also regularly spoke out against Myanmar’s military junta on her Facebook page.

HRW Asia director Elaine Pearson said that the abduction was recorded by CCTV and witnessed by passersby. A car disguised as a police vehicle went into the community the family resides in, the occupants entered Maung’s home and then abducted her and her family. Maung’s colleagues later entered her house and saw no signs of the family being robbed.

Pearson added, “Myanmar activists are apparently at risk even when they criticise the military junta from a country where they have sought asylum.”

Last year, Malaysia deported 150 asylum seekers from Myanmar, including military defectors. The National Unity Government, the Myanmar government in exile that Maung had worked with, expressed concerns over such deportations.