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Anwar to subpoena Najib, Rosmah
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today he would subpoena the prime minister as his second trial began on what he says are trumped up charges of sodomy.
Speaking outside a packed courtroom and cheered on by 250 supporters shouting “justice for Malaysia, justice for Anwar”, the 62-year old former deputy premier said the presence of so many foreign embassy staff in court showed the “interest, concern and disgust” the new trial was attracting.
Anwar’s trial represents a huge political challenge to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who is attempting to rebuild the coalition that has ruled Malaysia for over half a century after record losses in elections in 2008.
An upbeat Anwar told reporters after the court hearing was adjourned until the afternoon that his lawyers intended to subpoena Datuk Seri Najib and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, alleging that they were involved in what he said was a conspiracy to jail him.
Earlier, Datuk Seri Anwar, accompanied by two of his daughters and his wife, told reporters the prosecution was down to “the machinations of a dirty, corrupt few”.
The government insists it is not involved in the trial and no one was immediately available for comment on Anwar’s charge.
Najib, who has been premier since April last year, also needs to defuse a religious row that has damaged the government and win back foreign investment that fled Malaysia at a faster rate than almost any other emerging market economy in 2009.
Inside the court, diplomats from the United States, European Union, Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom observed the proceedings and 70 people squashed onto benches in the public gallery, including Nik Aziz, spiritual adviser to Anwar’s Islamic political allies, wearing a white turban and black robe.
The trial itself was adjourned until the afternoon as Datuk Seri Anwar’s lawyers sought a date to review a higher court ruling, which refused to allow Anwar access to certain prosecution evidence.
Anwar’s previous convictions for sodomy and corruption followed his dismissal as deputy prime minister in 1998, and most international observers said at the time the trials were not conducted fairly, an accusation that haunts the current hearing.
“The evidence will have to be overwhelming in order to move beyond the perception that Najib Razak is using the judiciary to remove a political rival in a desperate and mistaken move to shore up his own position,” said Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia specialist as Singapore Management University.
If found guilty of the charge of sodomising a young male aide in a country where all homosexual acts are criminal, Datuk Seri Anwar, one of Asia’s best known politicians, could face 20 years in jail.
That would effectively end his political challenge to Datuk Seri Najib and the National Front coalition that the prime minister heads and remove a major thorn in the government’s side ahead of elections that must be held by 2013 at the latest.
Datuk Seri Anwar called for a strong turnout for his first day in court on his Twitter account, while his accuser Saiful Bukhari Azlan also said on Twitter he would be in court.
Outside the court, pamphlets supporting Saiful were scattered on the road, denouncing Anwar for not taking an oath on the Koran and for using appeals to frustrate the courts.
Anwar’s lawyers say they cannot defend their client properly without the prosecution’s medical evidence and that access has been blocked by a series of court rulings.
“One of my hands is tied and I am going into this boxing ring,” lawyer Sankara Nair told reporters outside the court. — Reuters
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A BLAST FROM THE PAST -- RELEVANT RECALL,
courtesy of malaysia-today.net/ Wall Street Journal:)
The Price I Paid for Malaysian 'Justice'
Tuesday, 02 February 2010 Super Admin
The last time Anwar Ibrahim was put on trial, I was tortured and forced to 'confess' to sodomy
My detention by the Malaysian Special Branch taught me how it feels to be forcibly separated from one's wife and children. How it feels to be searched and seized, disallowed to make phone calls, handcuffed, blindfolded, stripped naked, driven in an animal cage, shaven bald, endlessly interrogated, humiliated, drugged, deprived of sleep, physically abused.
By MUNAWAR A. ANEES, Wall Street Journal
Nearly 12 years ago, I was languishing in a local hospital as a prisoner of conscience. This loss of freedom was due solely to my long-standing personal and professional association with Anwar Ibrahim, then Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Malaysia. We were falsely implicated in a fabricated case of having committed a mutual act of sodomy.
Such an internment, when driven by ulterior motives, brings a brutal deprivation upon the victim. It acts like a double-edged sword. While one's freedom of movement is taken away by tormentors, one's conscience suffocates in a dungeon. A poignant grief sets in once there is awareness that both the body and the conscience have fallen victim to the act of tyranny. That is what distinguishes incarceration out of an actual crime from that emanating from the acts of those who prosecute and persecute innocent others. The tormented memory never fades.
My detention by the Malaysian Special Branch taught me how it feels to be forcibly separated from one's wife and children. How it feels to be searched and seized, disallowed to make phone calls, handcuffed, blindfolded, stripped naked, driven in an animal cage, shaven bald, endlessly interrogated, humiliated, drugged, deprived of sleep, physically abused. What it's like to be threatened, blackmailed, hectored by police lawyers, brutalized to make a totally false confession, hospitalized for a consequent heart ailment, and treated as a psychiatric patient with symptoms of Stockholm syndrome. Barely surviving on a meager diet of rancid rice and chicken along with 12 medicines a day, I spent nearly 126 days handcuffed round the clock to my hospital bed, under the watchful eyes of the prison guards.
These tragic events completely ruined me and my family. The financial, physical, psychological and social implications of this calamity reverberate even more than a decade after the horrific occurrence. Words fail to describe what my family and I have quietly endured for the last 10 years. In spite of that, our faith in the ultimate victory of justice and truth has not wavered.
For the last 12 years, I have sought nothing but justice. I have repeatedly approached the Malaysian judicial system—the High Court, the Court of Appeals and the Federal Court—in the hope that justice would be duly provided to me. Unfortunately, my latest request for a review at the Federal Court was dismissed. Why does the judicial system shudder at the prospect of hearing my demand for justice? Why am I denied my day in court?
I am innocent. I am innocent of any and all spurious charges brought against me. I committed no crime for which I was tortured and unjustly imprisoned. I want the Malaysian judicial system to wake up to the fact that gross injustice was committed against me. I want them to realize that the injustice is perpetuated the more I continue to be denied my day in the court. My innocence inspires me to persist and persevere in the path of justice, as it is one of the fundamental human rights enshrined in the Constitution of Malaysia. The judicial system in Malaysia must rise to the call of duty and serve justice without any further delay.
Mr. Anees is a writer based in Tucson, Ariz.
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