Malaysia detains Anwar, arrests Indian lawyer

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia on Tuesday detained de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and arrested a human rights lawyer and about a dozen opposition leaders, amid growing complaints the government was harassing opposition politicians.
Immigration officials detained former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim at the country's main airport upon returning from Istanbul via Singapore before being cleared for entry, his lawyer William Leong said.
"It's just a clear harassment," Anwar told Reuters. "It's a desperate attempt to harass and intimidate the public and deflect the attention from major issues of corruption among UMNO leaders and the judiciary."
UMNO is the United Malays National Organisation, Malaysia's main ruling party.
In the incident that lasted about half an hour, Anwar said he was stopped because his name was on immigration's "suspects list" although he was not informed why.
Anwar said he was allowed to leave after a senior immigration officer came out to speak to him, but his name remains on the list, which could bar him from leaving Malaysia.
"No grounds were given," Anwar's lawyer Leong said of the detention. "There appears to have been some note which put the official on alert to stop him from coming in and to detain him until he obtained approval from the superior."
Police on Tuesday arrested human rights lawyer P. Uthayakumar, who helped organise 10,000 ethnic Indians to protest last month against racial discrimination.
The 46-year-old Uthayakumar would be charged later on Tuesday for sedition for statements he made in a book, his aide said without elaborating.
In the Malaysian capital on Tuesday, dozens of policemen blocked the main entrance to the parliament building to foil an opposition-led rally demanding free and fair elections.
Riot police, armed with batons and shields and backed by a water cannon, took positions close to the parliament while vehicles passing through were checked.
Police arrested about a dozen opposition leaders, including the leader of Anwar's Keadilan (Justice) party, Tian Chua, after the car he was travelling in broke through a police cordon and headed toward parliament to hand over a memo demanding reforms in the electoral process.
Tian was arrested after he defied police orders to leave the car. Police then handcuffed and carried him out of the car before bundling him into a waiting police patrol car.

tunku : when i read the news heading i was so happy but later arrgghhhh only for an hour ? anyway, serve you right anwar.