Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh said on Sunday that they would “rather die” than go back to Burma under current conditions, as it was revealed plans to repatriate them have been stalled until next year.

“We will not return without being given our rights as citizens,” said Mohamad Saddiq Hossain, a local community leader in Kutupalong extension camp, “we would rather die here than be taken back there.”

Mr Hossain’s feelings were shared by many of the camp's Rohingya residents, who have spent the past week fearing they could be forced back to the country that more than 720,000 were forced to flee in 2017 after a sweeping army crackdown in Rakhine state.

Last Tuesday Bangladesh's government was due to send the first batch of 2,200 refugees back to Burma from the south of Bangladesh, but the process was stalled amid protests.

Many of those on the list approved by the Burma government fled from their shelters and hid in other camps or in the forest. None of them agreed to return if their demands for justice, citizenship and the ability to go back to their original villages and lands were not met.

Abul Kalam, Bangladesh's refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told Reuters on Sunday that "a new course of action" needed to be adopted on repatriation that took into account refugees' demands.