Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial to go on as he loses appeal

KUALA LUMPUR - The sodomy trial of Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim will resume next week Monday after a Federal Court bench unanimously dismissed an appeal to strike out the charge levelled by a former aide.

This was 63-year-old Ibrahim’s final bid to strike out the July 2008 sodomy charge by his former aide Mohammed Saiful Bukhari Azlan, The Star newspaper said Wednesday.

This is Ibrahim’s second sodomy trial. He was dismissed as the deputy prime minister in 1998, tried and imprisoned. He was subsequently acquitted.

Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Arifin Zakaria held that the medical report dated July 13, 2008 - prepared by three Kuala Lumpur doctors and used as a basis by Ibrahim to apply to quash the charge - must be read in entirety.

Ibrahim had sought to strike out the charge based on the findings of the report that “there were no conclusive clinical findings suggestive of penetration to the anus/rectum”.

Justice Zakaria said: “It is our finding that it does not support the appellant’s (Anwar) contention that the charge be struck out at this stage.”

On Feb 17, Ibrahim had lost a plea before the Court of Appeal.

His lead counsel Karpal Singh submitted that the Court of Appeal judges were wrong in not concluding that the charge and prosecution against Ibrahim was made in bad faith and was a miscarriage of justice due to the conclusion made in the medical report.

He pointed out that it was vital for the prosecution in a sodomy case to prove beyond reasonable doubt that there was “penetration” and therefore, the charge was unsustainable.

“This is an obvious case where there should not be a formulation of a charge, let alone the prosecution. How could (there) be semen in the body of the complainant if there is no penetration?”