KUALA LUMPUR: A 36-year-old computer engineer from China has been released by the immigration department after being detained for close to a month over a fake visa.

Huang Yi was taken to Kuala Lumpur International Airport by immigration officers to board a flight for Guangzhou, China, on Monday.

He met his lawyer Lee Sok Wah at the airport to receive his personal items and put on a new red color shirt bought by Lee to dispel the bad luck.

Huang went on a hunger strike earlier after being held for close to a month at the Semenyih detention center.

Huang, from Beijing, was doing a master’s degree program at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan.

He sought an agent’s service to have his visa extended in May, but was detained by immigration officers at KLIA over a fake stamp on his passport when he was leaving the country on June 3.

Huang pleaded guilty and paid the fine in court on June 13, but was detained at the immigration depot in Semenyih pending documents required from the Attorney-General’s Chambers for his release.

Frustrated with the delay in sending the documents, he went on a hunger strike at the center after being detained for close to a month.

Huang’s lawyer Lee highlighted his plight after tourism, arts and culture minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing stepped in to help a female Chinese national detained by the immigration at KLIA.

Huang Yi’s case was then expedited by the immigration department after it was highlighted in the media.

Despite his release, Huang has been blacklisted by the immigration department for two years, effectively barring him from returning to Malaysia to attend his convocation in November.

He said Lee would help him appeal to the Attorney-General’s Chambers to have his name removed from the blacklist.