Nick Xenophon, an Australian senator, has been detained and is awaiting deportation from Malaysia after being deemed a “security risk.”
Xenophon was held by officials upon his arrival to Kuala Lumpur airport. He was in Malaysia as part of an elections review delegation and was scheduled to meet with officials about the country’s upcoming elections in June, including Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, a Cabinet minister and electoral activists.
Australia’s foreign minister Bob Carr has expressed his disappointment in the detention.
“Australia’s concerns have been raised with Malaysia’s foreign minister and the minister for home affairs and the Malaysian high commissioner to Australia…[to secure] Senator Xenophon’s swift release from custody,” he said.
“Senator Xenophon’s detention is a surprising and disappointing act from a country with which Australia routinely maintains strong diplomatic relations,” Carr added.
Malaysia’s Immigration Director Gen. Alias Ahmad said that the senator was banned because of his participation in a demonstration in Kuala Lumpur last year.
“Malaysia is a free and democratic country, but no one is above the law,” Gen. Ahmad said in a statement. “Authorities will take the appropriate action against any individual deemed to have violated national laws.”
Opposition activist Anwar Ibrahim called the deportation “a gross abuse of power”.
Xenophon – whose name, ironically, is Greek for “stranger’s voice — will be sent back to Melbourne on Saturday night.
Courtesy Global Post
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