Malaysia detains Aussie at aiport
2013-02-16 08:08
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia detained an Australian lawmaker
at Kuala Lumpur airport on Saturday and is expected to deport him, an activist
said, in a move Canberra described as "disappointing and surprising".
Nick Xenophon, an outspoken independent Senator, was
detained at the international airport near the capital Kuala Lumpur upon his
arrival from Melbourne.
"He informed me that he is being deported,"
Ambiga Sreenevasan, a lawyer and co-chair of electoral reform group Bersih,
told AFP after she spoke to Xenophon early on Saturday.
The Malaysian government is yet to comment on the
circumstances surrounding Xenophon's detention but Ambiga said it appeared to
be "under the Security Offences Act".
"[Authorities] said he is a security risk," she
added.
Xenophon, who has travelled to Malaysia several times,
was to meet Bersih members and others including opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim
and Election Commission officials next week, Ambiga said.
Australia's Foreign Minister Bob Carr said Australian
officials were in touch with Xenophon, as well as Malaysia's foreign and home
ministers, and were seeking his "swift release" from custody.
"Senator Xenophon's detention is a surprising and
disappointing act from a country with which Australia routinely maintains
strong diplomatic relations," he said in a statement.
The Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, or Sosma,
was introduced in Malaysia last year to replace the much-criticised
colonial-era Internal Security Act, which allowed indefinite detention without
trial.
Prime Minister Najib Razak has touted Sosma and other
reforms to show he is granting more civil liberties, but rights group have
criticised the new act, saying it still gives broad powers to detain people for
too long.
Malaysia has deported several foreigners in recent years.
Among them was a French lawyer representing a human rights group in an inquiry
into alleged corruption linked to Najib.
- SAPA
