Malaysia has deported 1,086 people back to Myanmar, defying a court order and appeals from human rights groups to halt the process.
Rights organisations say the group includes some ethnic minorities which have suffered persecution in Myanmar.
They say sending them back to Myanmar, where the army took power in a coup, could put them at even greater risk.
But Malaysia has said those being sent back committed immigration offences, and are not asylum seekers.
The deportation comes as more than 130 NGOs called for an immediate ban on sales of all military or dual-use equipment to Myanmar while it remains under military rule.
In an open letter, they say any sale or transfer of equipment to the armed forces could provide the means to further repress the people.
Several countries have already applied sanctions to Myanmar or downgraded diplomatic relations.
But the country’s biggest arms suppliers China and Russia have ignored calls for an embargo and will almost certainly refuse to take part in one now, BBC South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head reports.