Anwar’s Trial Set In January

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 — Exactly like 10 years ago Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today failed to escape trial for sodomy.

High Court judge Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah here tossed out the PKR adviser’s bid to strike out the sodomy charge against him and fixed the trial to be from January 25 to February 25 next year.

The judge said that the High Court has “inherent powers” to set aside the charge against Anwar but ruled that the latter must prove his claims of bad intent and political conspiracy on the part of the Attorney-General’s office.

Zabidin added that it was up to the prosecution to decide how they wanted to prove penetration occurred.

The 62-year-old grandfather stands accused of sodomy for the second time in his life; this time, it is with a former male aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 24.

Anwar’s defence lawyers had earlier argued that the charge was a baseless political conspiracy because several government and private doctors had in their reports not found any signs of forced penetration on Mohd Saiful.

But the public prosecutor, led by Solicitor General II Datuk Yusof Zainal Abiden, had last week claimed they had extra medical evidence to show Mohd Saiful had been sexually involved with his ex-boss.

Yusof drew the court’s attention to a government-run Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) report which noted finding “a mixture of male DNA from two individuals” through a swabbing of Mohd Saiful’s anus.

The senior lawyer from the Attorney General’s Chambers added that it had more such forensic and oral evidence to support the sodomy charge.

Anwar was arrested and subsequently charged with committing sex against the order of nature on August 7 last year, just before he bounced back into Parliament after taking back his old Permatang Pauh

seat in a by-election.

The former deputy prime minister had spent six years behind bars for the crime a decade ago before the conviction was reversed.

Despite having assembled some of the finest legal eagles in the city, such as Raja Aziz Addruse, 73, to challenge this second charge against him, Anwar failed to stop the case before it goes to trial.

If the ambitious Anwar is found guilty and convicted this time, he may spend up to 20 years behind bars, which would really snuff out his bid to take over Putrajaya with political allies DAP and PAS.

Anwar will appeal against the High Court’s rebuff at the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya tomorrow, his lawyer, Sankara Nair, told reporters later.

“We’re quite in a quagmire,” Nair said, looking disturbed.

“How can we craft our defence unless we have all our data?” he added, noting that the High Court judge had chosen to brush aside the defence team’s request to stay the trial until the Federal Court had disposed

of Anwar’s related appeal to get extra evidence he claims is key to proving he is innocent.

Sankara said that a normal appeal takes about two months to be heard.

He was also upset that Zabidin had ticked off Karpal’s call to push the trial to a later date.

Sankara said Anwar’s chosen lead counsel, Raja Aziz Addruse, is currently abroad and was only due to return in February.

Sankara added that the defence may also try to rope in the Federal Court to stay the start of trial if their appeal for more proof is not heard before Jan 25.

Anwar himself was highly disgusted by Zabidin’s ruling.

The federal lawmaker pointed out that the High Court judge had earlier noted an accused person’s fundamental rights to fully defend himself under Malaysian law, but appeared to be pedalling backwards when he fixed trial to start despite knowing of the pending appeal.

“The judge should at least respect his own decision and allow our appeal at the Federal Court,” Anwar told reporters outside the courtroom later, surrounded by his wife and supporters.

“This is the first case in the history of modern times that you prefer a charge of sexual abuse ignoring medical evidence with a conclusive finding of no trace of penetration,” the Permatang Pauh MP pounded.

Anwar continued hitting out against Zabidin, noting the judge had showed a tendency to “protect the prosecution” and repeated his allegation that the present team of lawyers from the Attorney General’s Chambers, especially the Solicitor General II who is heading the charge, was involved in cooking up sodomy evidence in Sodomy I involving Anwar’s Indonesian adopted brother Sukma Darmawan.

Anwar foresees a “very tough battle” ahead but stressed that he is prepared to fight the sodomy charge to the bitter end “because we have compelling arguments and facts”.