It has been reported that an American lawyer defending a Rwandan Hutu politician accused in the 1994 Tutsi genocide has been arrested in what critics say is a political move.

Radio France Internationale reported on Sunday that the Rwandan government has accused Peter Erlinder, who heads a group of defense lawyers at the U. N. Rwanda tribunal, of being a genocide denier.

The Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation has reported that Erlinder had arrived in Rwanda last week and was arrested Friday as he arrived in the capital of Kigali as part of the defense team of opposition Hutu figure Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, accused of denying the genocide and inciting ethnic hatred.

The arrest was political, said a representative of the Defense Lawyers Association of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

"Clearly the reason he must have been arrested was that he was trying to meet Victoire Ingabire with a view to taking instructions and probably taking up her cause or defending her in that context," Gershom Otachi said.

Rwanda's public prosecutor, Martin Ngoga, told the Sunday Monitor, a Nation Media Group publication, Erlined "denied the genocide."

Ngoga said, "Because of our history, denying the genocide is a criminal offense."

Police said Erlinder would be brought before a judge within 72 hours.

Eric Janus, dean of William Mitchell College of Law where Erlinder is a professor, said the St. Paul, Minn., school supports Erlinder and was working with the U. S. State Department and others to ensure his safety, the news Web site MinnPost. com has reported.

Janus has said, "In traveling to Rwanda, Professor Erlinder exemplifies the great tradition of lawyers who take on the representation of unpopular clients and causes. That Professor Erlinder did so at great personal risk demonstrates the strength of his commitment to justice and due process." (With Inputs from Agencies)