Malaysian police seek arrest of opposition leader

(CNN) -- Police in Malaysia have issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in connection with a new sodomy case, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Anwar has until 2 p.m. Wednesday to appear at a police station.

"We are troubled by the threatening tone of the letter by the police," lawyer Sankara Nair told reporters outside Anwar's residence Tuesday.

A 23-year-old male aide has accused Anwar, 60, of sodomizing him at a luxury apartment in June.

Anwar has said the allegations are meant to usurp his political gains.

A loose coalition of opposition parties -- with Anwar at the helm -- won 82 of 222 parliamentary seats in elections in March. It was the second time in the country's history that the ruling party failed to gain the two-thirds majority needed to amend the constitution.

Sodomy, even if consensual, is punishable by 20 years in prison in the largely Muslim country.

Anwar was the heir apparent to former premier Mahathir Mohamad until 1998, when he was sacked and charged for corruption and sodomy.

The sodomy conviction was overturned at the time, but the corruption verdict was never lifted, barring him from running for political posts until this year.

In a recent interview with CNN, Anwar rejected the sodomy charges and also said he had evidence of threats on his life that caused him to go into hiding at the Turkish embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Listen to Anwar Ibrahim defend himself »

The ruling party, National Front Coalition, has led Malaysia since the country declared independence in 1957. Anwar's opposition party has gradually chipped away at the National Front's power.

-- CNN's Andy Saputra in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report

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