Burundi`s newest opposition party on Tuesday accused the government of harassment, a day after its leader -- a well-known journalist and activist -- and 37 of its members were detained by police.

Alexis Sinduhije and his fellow founding members of the Movement for Security and Democracy (MSD) were arrested on Monday for holding `an illegal political meeting`, police said.

In a statement received by AFP, the MSD `urged national and international opinion to bear witness to the unjustified harassment it is subjected to by the authorities`.

`My client... was interrogated this morning for more than four hours. The interrogation focused on a meeting the police deemed illegal but also on comments he is alleged to have made and could be a threat to the state`s internal security,` Sinduhije`s lawyer Prosper Niyoyankana told AFP.

`This is persecution targeting Alexis Sinduhije and his party as political adversaries,` he added.

The 42-year-old Sinduhije founded Radio Publique Africaine in 2001 in a bid to foster reconciliation between his country`s Tutsi and Hutu communities.

He became one of the country`s most prominent journalists but gave it up in December 2007 to launch a political party with the same goals and then declared his intention to run for the presidency in 2010.

In April, he was picked by Time Magazine in its annual selection of the world`s 100 most influential people.

The Burundian authorities have not yet validated the creation of the Movement for Security and Democracy, arguing that security is a state prerogative.