From Peguampas
By Hanipa Maidin

I have been practising as a criminal lawyer for almost 16 years. I have considerable experience defending accused persons who were being charged for sexual related crimes. My experience tells me that the prosecution will never charge a person for an offence of rape or sodomy if the medical evidence is not favourable to them. It is almost an accepted rule of practice or a legal norm, as far as the offence of rape or sodomy is concerned, medical evidence operates as oxygen to the prosecution.

It seems to me that such a practice is no longer adhered to in the current ongoing trial of Anwar Ibrahim. When the accused person is Anwar Ibrahim the rule of game is suddenly and drastically changed. When Anwar is charged the prosecution no longer seems to gauge the strengths of its case on the available evidence they have. When Anwar Ibrahim is tried the prosecution will, come what may, happily proceed with the trial regardless whether it has fragile evidence or no evidence at all against him !!

The only crime Anwar committed in this case is for having the name, Anwar Ibrahim.

I believe that if another person by the name of Ibrahim Anwar or any other Ibrahims allegedly sodomised Saiful the prosecution would not charge such a person when provided with the medical report prepared by doctors in Pusat Rawatan Islam ( Pusrawi ) and Kuala Lumpur General Hospital respectively.

Both reports, as I was told by lawyers in Anwar’s legal team, contain a very damning evidence against the prosecution in that they unequivocally state that there are no visible signs of penetration of Saiful’s anus. As far as the report of the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital is concerned, it was duly signed by three doctors. So what the prosecution have in their possession are the reports certified by four doctors ( one from Pusrawi and three from KLGH ) apparently dismissing the prosecution’s theory that Saiful was ever sodomised by Anwar.

Continue reading ‘Anwar-The Victim of Overzealous Prosecution’

From Washington Post
Editorials

Sunday, February 7, 2010; A20

IN THE PAST two years, Malaysia, which has been a one-party state since it gained independence in 1957, has made remarkable strides toward becoming a democracy. That it has done so is mostly due to the efforts and political talent of one man — Anwar Ibrahim. So the fact that Mr. Anwar went on criminal trial last week should deeply concern the democratic world. The outcome could determine whether one of Asia’s most economically successful countries preserves its stability and embraces long-overdue reforms.

A former deputy prime minister in the ruling party, Mr. Anwar was deposed and jailed in 1998 by former Malaysian strongman Mahathir Mohamad. A manifestly unfair trial followed in which Mr. Anwar was convicted of homosexual sodomy, which shamefully remains a crime in Malaysia. Six years later, the conviction was overturned by a court, and Mr. Anwar resumed his political career — this time as an open champion of democracy in Malaysia and other Muslim countries.

Mr. Anwar succeeded in forging a coalition of opposition parties, including his own multiracial People’s Justice Party, an Islamic party, and a secular party. He has campaigned against the government’s toxic policy of racial discrimination, which funnels economic favors to well-connected members of the ethnic Malay majority. In the past two years, his coalition has pulled off a string of stunning victories in state and parliamentary by-elections; it now controls four of 13 state governments. If led by Mr. Anwar, it would have a fair chance of winning the next national election in 2013.

That’s one reason it’s suspicious that, three months after the state election victories in 2008, Mr. Anwar was once again accused of sodomy. Another is that his young male accuser was seen with aides of Najib Razak, who is now prime minister; Mr. Anwar says he has evidence that the accuser met with the prime minister and his wife shortly before making his charge. A third is that the case has been transferred from criminal court to a higher court whose judges are closely linked to the ruling party.

If Mr. Anwar is convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and would be banned from politics for five years. He is 62. The ruling party no doubt hopes a conviction will cause the opposition coalition to crumble. But it could just as easily provoke a backlash against Mr. Najib or street demonstrations that could destabilize the country. That’s why the Obama administration and other Western governments interested in stability in Asia should make clear that the imprisonment of Mr. Anwar would be a blatant human rights violation — and not in Malaysia’s interest.