A lawyer for Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim says police have
issued an arrest warrant for the former deputy prime minister in
connection with a sodomy accusation filed by a former male aide.
Counsel Sankara Nair said Tuesday that police had set a deadline of Wednesday for Anwar to report for questioning.
Anwar
defied an order to be questioned on Monday, saying he was angry about
being banned from parliament during an opposition bid to mount a debate
criticizing Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Anwar says the
accusations are a government plot to keep him from taking power. He
has said that he has the support of enough lawmakers to topple Mr.
Abdullah's administration and form a new government.
In March,
Anwar led the opposition to a stunning electoral victory, breaking the
ruling National Front coalition's two-thirds majority hold on
parliament for the first time in four decades. The opposition also won
control of five states.
The vote results triggered calls for Mr. Abdullah to step down.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
