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From ABC online
By Connor Duffy
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has lost a last-ditch effort to have sodomy charges struck out of court.
Anwar alleges the charges brought against him are a political conspiracy and says the country’s prime minister, Najib Razak, was personally involved.
Mr Razak’s party has been in power for 50 years but Anwar has revitalised the opposition who polled well in last year’s elections.
Anwar’s lawyers attempted to have the case against him delayed on the grounds the defence had been denied access to crucial documents.
From New York Times
Malaysian Opposition Leader Goes on Trial for Sodomy
By LIZ GOOCH
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The sodomy trial of the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim finally began on Wednesday afternoon with a heavy police presence outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court and crowds of Mr. Anwar’s supporters cheering him on. There had been no shortage of drama at the court on Tuesday, on what was to have been the first day of Mr. Anwar’s trial on charges that he sodomized a former campaign worker. Mr. Anwar, a former deputy prime minister, said he planned to subpoena the incumbent prime minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, and his wife.
Facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted, Mr. Anwar, 63, said he had evidence that his accuser, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, visited the prime minister and his wife shortly before he made the complaint in 2008.
“We have evidence that he was involved,” Mr. Anwar said, referring to the prime minister. “He met Saiful two days before the report was lodged to the police.”
The charges against Mr. Anwar were read to him in court at 3:34 p.m. on Wednesday, according to the Malaysia Star, which was live-blogging from the courtroom. The newspaper said Mr. Anwar responded that the charge was “malicious in intent.”
From The Reuters
By Razak Ahmad and Soo Ai Peng
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim faced his 24-year old male accuser in court on Wednesday in a trial for sodomy that could see one of Asia’s best-known politicians jailed for 20 years.
The 62-year denies the charge, which he says is a plot to end his democratic challenge to a government which has ruled the Southeast Asian country for 52 years.
In a court packed with journalists, Anwar supporters and foreign diplomats, one of Anwar’s daughters shouted “repent” at former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan as he entered the room.
Saiful identified Anwar as the person who had sodomised him in June 2008, saying the he had demanded sex in a condominium in uptown Kuala Lumpur.
“I was angry and afraid,” Saiful told the court.
“I rejected his offer. I said I didn’t want to do it,” he said as the court proceedings were brought to an end with the defence lawyers asking for the case to proceed in camera.
After Saiful’s comments, two of Anwar’s daughters reached to support their father while his wife put her arms around the daughters.
From The Washington Post
By EILEEN NG
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 3, 2010; 5:22 AM
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A court trying Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy heard explicit details from his accuser Wednesday after the Malaysian opposition leader denied the charge that he had illicit sexual relations with a male aide.
At the start of the trial, Anwar claimed the allegation was part of a high-level conspiracy to thwart his political movement that came close to dislodging a government in power for more than five decades.
It is the second time in his political career that the former deputy premier has been charged with sodomy, which in Muslim-majority Malaysia is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
He previously served six years in prison for alleged corruption and sodomy before the sodomy conviction was overturned. A new conviction could would be a huge setback to his opposition alliance, the only significant rival to the long-ruling government coalition.
Speech by Michael Danby, read at Parliament in Australia on February 2, 2009
Speech by Michael Danby, Federal Member for Melbourne Ports and Chair of the Australian Parliamentary sub-committee on Foreign Affairs
Tonight, I want to speak out on behalf of fellow democrats around Asia, who are flabbergasted at events unfolding in Kuala Lumpur. I refer to the trial which began today of the Malaysian Opposition Leader, Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim. For the second time, the Malaysian leader of the Opposition, Anwar Ibrahim is on trial for what they call in ancient grating English, ‘Sodomy’. For the second time, the Malaysian legal system is being manipulated by supporters of the incumbent government to drive Malaysia’s best known leader Anwar Ibrahim out of national politics. For the second time, documents are being forged, witnesses are being coerced, evidence is being fabricated.
This trial, like the first trial of Anwar Ibrahim, is a disgrace to Malaysia a country that aspires to democratic norms, where parties change power peacefully and political opponents are not persecuted by organs of the state. Perverting the legal system for political ends by charging Anwar with sexual offences is an affront to human rights. In the first place, the offences with which Anwar has been charged that should not be on the statute book. Australia abolished its laws punishing consenting adult homosexual acts decades ago, as did most advanced countries. It’s long past time that Malaysia also repealed these laws, which it inherited from British colonial times. If these laws did not exist, they could not be used for political purposes as we are currently seeing.
In the second place, everyone in Malaysia, and everyone in the international legal community, knows that Anwar is innocent of these charges. This week the Wall Street Journal published a first-hand account of how the Malaysian Special Branch police fabricated the charges that led to Anwar’s first trial in 1998. Munawar Anees recalled how he had been starved and beaten into signing a false confession which implicated Anwar. Now it’s happening again. These are the lengths to which the corrupt elements within the Malaysian ruling party are willing to go to frame Anwar and remove his threat to their power.
Malaysia is a long-time friend and ally of Australia. Over the past 40 years Malaysia has become an increasingly prosperous and successful multi-cultural society. We continue our friendly and mutually beneficial relationship with Malaysia, which is a deep economic, strategic and cultural relationship. (more…)
Dari TV Selangor
Jika semalam kesemua jurugambar dihalang berada di lobi mahkamah untuk merakam gambar perbicaraan mantan Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, namun hari ini para wartawan pula menerima nasib yang sama.
Wartawan dihalang dengan tidak diberikan pas masuk ke Mahkamah Jenayah 3 untuk mengikuti perbicaraan Anwar.
Laporan terkini yang diterima, Setiausaha Agong Kesatuan Wartawan Kebangsaan, NUJ, V Anbalagan mengesahkan bahawa pihak pendaftar Mahkamah Tinggi dan polis membuat perbincangan semalam dan menetapkan pas hanya diberi kepada ahli NUJ sahaja.
Ketua bahagian D5, Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah IPK Kuala Lumpur , merangkap pegawai penjaga mahkamah, R Munusamy, memberi alasan bahawa pas masuk hanya diberi kepada media yang disenaraikan NUJ.
Malah hanya satu pas diberikan kepada satu syarikat media.
Tindakan itu menimbulkan rasa tidak puas hati di kalangan wartawan.
Manakala jurugambar pula, hanya dibenarkan berada di tangga di luar pintu lobi mahkamah.
Dalam pada itu, kekuatan anggota polis turut ditambah dan kawalan ketat dilakukan di pintu masuk mahkamah.
From Telegraph.co.uk
By Barney Henderson in Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia’s opposition leader has appeared in court to face sodomy charges for the second time in a decade and threatened to call the prime minister as a witness.
Anwar Ibrahim, who led his party to record gains in the 2008 election, said the charges were the result of “the machinations of a dirty, corrupt few”.
A 25-year-old former male aide, Saiful Bukhari, accused Anwar of sodomy. He faces up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted – a ruling that would effectively end the 62-year-old’s political career. Homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia.
Anwar’s opposition coalition party poses the biggest ever threat to the National Front, which has ruled the country with an iron fist for 52 years.
Arriving at the court with his wife and two daughters, Anwar said his lawyers intended to call Najib Razak, the prime minister, and his wife as witnesses, claiming they are part of a political conspiracy against him. (more…)
From Times Online
By Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor
The Malaysian opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, yesterday accused the country’s prime minister, Najib Razak, of personally participating in a an effort to frame him as he went on trial for sodomy for the second time in 12 years.
Hundreds of Mr Anwar’s supporters shouted slogans demanding justice, as he appeared at the courthouse in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, where he faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
He said that his defence team would call as witnesses Mr Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, in an explicit effort to turn the trial into a political confrontation, between the United Malay National Organisation (Umno), and Mr Anwar’s opposition coalition, which is steadily eroding Umno’s political dominance..
His lawyers claim that the young former aide to Mr Anwar who accuses him of forcibly sodomising him in 2008 met with Mr Najib, who was then deputy-prime minister, shortly before making a police complaint. “We want to subpoena Najib and Rosmah as witnesses because they were personally involved in the conspiracy and frame-up,” Mr Anwar told reporters at the court. “It is politically motivated.” (more…)
From Washington Post
By EILEEN NG
The Associated Press
Malaysia — Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim braced for the start Wednesday of his long-delayed sodomy trial, which he has called a conspiracy aimed at breaking the momentum of his political movement.
Anwar’s lawyers on Tuesday exhausted efforts to put the proceedings on hold because of unresolved technicalities, including their requests for advance access to the prosecution’s medical evidence in the case.
The High Court was scheduled to begin hearing Anwar’s trial on accusations of sodomizing a male former aide later Wednesday, 18 months after he was charged for the second time in his political career for the crime punishable by 20 years’ imprisonment in this Muslim-majority country.
Anwar is accused of sodomizing a former election campaign worker and aide, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 24.
Anwar, 62, insists the current charge was fabricated by Prime Minister Najib Razak and his government foes to knock out Anwar’s opposition movement, which severely eroded the ruling coalition’s grip on power in March 2008 general elections. (more…)
