TERIMA
KASIH MATRIX
Malaysian
Anwar's sex trial put off to Thursday pending appeal
KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 (AFP) - Malaysian ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's
sex trial was again postponed Friday to next week pending his appeal to reverse
a ruling that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad need not testify.
Judge Arifin Jaka initially wanted Anwar's lawyers to proceed with other
witnesses but defence lawyers refused. He then set Thursday for the hearing to
resume.
The defence Wednesday filed an appeal to overturn Arifin's ruling last
Friday that Mahathir need not appear as a witness in Anwar's sodomy trial,
preventing a courtroom showdown between the two rivals. The trial was then
postponed.
When the hearing resumed Friday, Arifin told Anwar's lawyers to submit on
their defence of alibi by calling other witnesses.
"The witnesses, to my mind, are not relevant to whether Dr Mahathir is
called or not. What I am a little worried about is the delay," he said.
But defence counsel Karpal Singh reminded the judge that he had allowed a
stay of proceedings two days ago.
"It means this trial cannot proceed until the disposal of the (appeal)
case. That being the position, the calling of other witnesses itself will fly
in the face of the order," he said.
"The court may well be in contempt of itself."
Prosecutor Abdul Gani Patail agreed with the defence's argument, prompting
Anwar to turn back and smile at his family members sitting in the public
gallery.
But Gani told Arifin that the prosecutor would try to find out whether his
ruling on Mahathir could be challenged.
"The prosecution is thinking of writing to the Court of Appeal to
decide essentially on whether the ruling in respect to calling Dr. Mahathir is
appealable or not," he said.
Karpal immediately replied that the prosecution could only raise the matter
at a preliminary hearing in the appeal court.
Arifin told them to sort it out with the appeal court and halted
proceedings for the moment. But he told Anwar's lawyers to call witnesses on
Thursday.
Had Mahathir been forced to appear, it would have been the first
face-to-face encounter between the two politicians since Anwar was sacked in
September 1998.
Anwar, jailed for six years' last April for abusing his powers, says he is
the victim of a high-level conspiracy because he intended to expose corruption
and was seen as a political threat to the premier.
If convicted of sodomy, he faces up to 20 years in jail.