KUALA LUMPUR: The government has revoked the passport of Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leader P. Waytha Moorthy.

Amnesty International's Washington-based Asia-Pacific advocacy director T. Kumar said Waytha Moorthy had planned to visit Washington for talks with leaders of Congress and Amnesty but had to put it off because of the cancellation of the passport.

The lawyer only became aware of the revocation of the passport when he returned to London from Geneva after talks recently with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Waytha Moorthy has been living in the United Kingdom, where he is seeking asylum, since December.

In a statement to Amnesty, he said the Malaysian government had revoked his passport in the hopes London would deport him so he could be arrested under the Internal Security Act when he returned to Kuala Lumpur. - AFP