The Department of Home Affairs will today ask the Pretoria High Court to jail Gauteng lawyer Zehir Omar for contempt of court.

This comes a day after Omar, a lawyer for deported Pakistani national Khalid Rashid, was accused by the cabinet of "besmirching" South Africa's name.

Home Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Cleo Mosana confirmed the department would ask the court to rule Omar in contempt.

This stems from an allegation that he allegedly made information public from a file which the judge in the Rashid case had ruled should not be published.

Yesterday, Omar said that if anyone had besmirched the country's good name, it was the government.

He was reacting to a cabinet statement noting his "continuing campaign to besmirch the name of our government and our country regarding Rashid's deportation from our country".

"In many respects he has behaved in an unethical manner. In addition to allegations against theft of files, he has also - unlike other legal representatives - been doing a running commentary on what is transpiring in the court hearing."

Omar hit back that it was the government's agreement to a British request to "forcibly" remove Rashid that had besmirched the country's name.

The cabinet yesterday again denied Pretoria was ever involved in "renditions" of suspects to other countries.

Yesterday, the Pakistani government confirmed that Rashid was "presently" in its custody.