Malaysia opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim barred from entering Japan

Barring Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim from entering Japan when the Japanese immigration officials stopped Anwar at Narita International Airport, earlier Sunday and told him to take the next flight back to Kuala Lumpur, Latheefa Koya, human rights and legal bureau chief for the opposition People’s Alliance.“The barring of Anwar Ibrahim from entering Japan raises serious questions on the involvement of this government,” Latheefa said in a statement.Anwar said in a blog post that the officials apparently denied him entry for a previous conviction in 1999, and for what they described only as a “latest report.” “I protest in the strongest terms this unwarranted action of theJapanese government in refusing me entry,” Anwar said on his blog. “It is indeed inconceivable for one of the world’s leading democracies to take this unprecedented action under such tenuous grounds and leaves me with the impression that hidden hands may be at work here,” he added.Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman denied Kuala Lumpur had a hand in the barring of Anwar.“The Japanese government can deny entry to anyone they find undesirable,” he said in a press briefing. The Japanese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur had no comment.Anwar said he was going to Tokyo on a personal invitation to present a paper on Muslim Democrats.