The arrest of four opposition figures in Malaysia has drawn strong criticism from international groups.

The New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights said the authorities were again resorting to strong-arm tactics to silence their critics: it described the arrest of the Democratic Action Party's deputy leader, KARPAL Singh, who led the legal team of the jailed former government minister, Anwar Ibrahim, as another attack on lawyers willing to defend out-of-favour clients.

The others arrested are the editor and publisher of the Islamic Party newspaper Harakah and the vice-president of the National Justice party formed by Mr Anwar's wife.

The Paris-based group, Reporters without Frontiers, said the Malaysian government's action was a further step in its policy of gagging the opposition. The four face charges of sedition or provoking racial unrest.

The government has denied the arrests are part of a co-ordinated campaign.

But the deputy prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said further arrests of opposition activists would be made if they caused trouble.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service