Hawzah News Agency - (Rakhine state - Myanmar) - Rohingya Muslims arrested by Myanmar forces have appeared in court in the nation’s capital of Yangon over criminal charges for attempting to flee apartheid-like conditions in Rakhine state.

The group of nearly 20, including children, who appeared in court on Friday were among 54 people from the Rohingya minority detained on Wednesday on the outskirts of Yangon while trying to escape the country to Malaysia, Reuters reported, citing judge Thida Aye.

“The immigration officer submitted the case because they found no identification cards from these people,” she said as quoted in the report, which noted that some of those ushered in the courtroom were barefoot -- including a small boy that was naked from the waist down – and others clothed in colorful head-scarves.

Meanwhile, appointed defense attorney Nay Myo Zar said the detainees had fled the western state, where hundreds of thousands of minority Rohingya Muslims live under oppressive conditions and have been subjected to rising pressure amid a brutal crackdown by government forces on alleged ethnic rebels.

Myanmar officials claim the army was engaged in a legitimate counter-insurgency campaign against militants who allegedly attacked security posts.

The government further asserts that it is working on a national strategy to shut down refugee camps and that Rohingya would not face movement restrictions if they accepted a so-called national verification card, which many reject, insisting that it labels them foreigners