Malaysia's Anwar to call premier as witness in sodomy trial - Update

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on Tuesday claimed that Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife were involved in bringing the current sodomy charges against him. After months of delays, the trial began at the High Court in the capital Kuala Lumpur, the second time Anwar has faced charges of sodomy.

Anwar, 62, is accused of sodomizing a 24-year-old male aide, a charge he denies.

Scores of supporters and reporters greeted Anwar, who arrived with his wife, daughters and lawyers.

The former deputy prime minister, dressed in a grey suit, smiled and waved at supporters, many of whom had been gathered for hours, before entering the court.

Less than an hour later, as the court adjourned for lunch, Anwar told reporters he was seeking to subpoena Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor as witnesses.

Anwar claimed that he had proof that his accuser, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, had gone to meet Najib at the premier's residence days before the allegations were made public, and charged that the premier had a role in the accusations.

Najib had earlier admitted to meeting Saiful, but said the young man had only come to reveal that he had been sodomized by Anwar.

Najib claimed he did not know Saiful prior to the meeting, and that he had agreed to meet him in his "capacity as a leader and he as an ordinary citizen who wants to tell me something."

Anwar said the new sodomy charges were part of a political plot to undermine his three-party opposition alliance, which made major gains in the country's 2008 general elections.

In a previous case, Anwar was sentenced to prison for corruption and sodomizing his family's former driver in 1998. He was then released in 2004 after the Federal Court overturned the sodomy conviction.

Anwar has maintained that the charges at that time were designed to prevent him from challenging then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Officials have denied claims of a conspiracy.

Sodomy is a crime in mainly Muslim Malaysia, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/307058,malaysias-anwar-to-call-premier-as-witness-in-sodomy-trial.html.