TERIMA KASIH MATRIX

 

Anwar's sex trial postponed pending appeal on Mahathir testimony

KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 (AFP) - The sex trial of Malaysia's ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim was Thursday postponed indefinitely pending the outcome of his final effort to make Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad testify.
Anwar is appealing against the ruling by high court Justice Arifin Jaka on April 21 that Mahathir need not appear as a witness in his sodomy trial.

On Thursday, the court register announced that the trial would be postponed pending the hearing of Anwar's application to the appeal court to reverse Arifin's ruling.

Anwar, sacked by Mahathir in September 1998 and subsequently detained, says he was framed by a high-level conspiracy because he intended to expose corruption and was seen as a political threat to the premier.

He says the premier can give crucial evidence to prove his innocence. But Arifin ruled there was "not an iota of evidence" that Mahathir was involved in any conspiracy.

Lawyer Pawancheek Marican said the defence had filed a notice of appeal and was working on a petition stating grounds for challenging Arifin's ruling.

A hearing date will be fixed once the petition is filed, he said, adding that the appeal case was not expected to take long as it focused on a narrow issue.

On Saturday he lost his appeal against that conviction and sentence but denounced what he called "political persecution" through the courts. Anwar vowed to challenge the decision in the country's highest court.

The United States on Monday voiced concern that Anwar had lost his appeal, saying many had found his previous trial flawed and that he had not been given a "fair opportunity to defend himself."
Had Mahathir been forced to appear, it would have been the first face-to-face encounter between the two since Anwar was sacked.

The former deputy premier was jailed for six years in April 1999 for abusing his official powers to cover up allegations of sexual misconduct.


If convicted of sodomy, Anwar faces up to 20 years in jail.