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ive Afghan nationals were deported to their home country on Wednesday after being detained for more than a month at the immigration detention center in Pekanbaru, Riau, an official said Wednesday.

The five, identified as Ismatullah bin Chaman Ali, 28; Muhammad Yaqob bin Murad Ali, 30; Mohammad Zaki bin Yadan Ali, 22; Safwat bin Ali Baba Khan, 33; and Sajjad bin Said Husin Syah, 30, were formerly detained at the Jambi immigration detention center in March.

Head of the Riau office of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Hamsuk S Widjaja said the five Afghans were sent back to Kabul upon their own request.

He said the repatriation of the five immigrants was sponsored by representatives from the Jakarta office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) .

"Feeling their future was uncertain here, they had actually asked for the repatriation a long time ago, but it required a long process," he said.

Hamsuk explained that the five immigrants already left Pekanbaru for Jakarta on Tuesday before taking another flight through Kuala Lumpur and Dubai.

"IOM representatives accompanied them in each country where they made a stopover until they reached Kabul," he said.

Another 91 illegal immigrants from Afghanistan remain in detention in Pekanbaru. A wave of illegal immigrants from the war-torn nation has entered Indonesia in recent months, apparently on their way to Australia.

Yanizur, head of the Pekanbaru immigrant detention center, said 10 of the 91 detainees were arrested trying to enter Bagan Siapiapi in North Sumatra.

The rest were transferred from other detention centers in Jambi, Tanjung Balai Karimun, Jakarta and Medan.

"They choose to stay here as they still expect to get political asylum in third countries," he said.

Yanizur said the detention house he oversees only has the capacity to accommodate 68 people.

"That's why the detention of 34 other illegal immigrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan, who were netted in the latest in a series of arrests were transferred to the detention center in Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands," he said.

Due to the limited space at the detention center, Yanizur said that his subordinates had to hold two married couples with children under five-years-old at the document and inventory room of the Pekanbaru detention center.