Anwar’s sodomy trial delayed

KUALA LUMPUR — Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was given a brief reprieve by the High Court today.

His sodomy trial, the second in a decade, was originally fixed to start on July 1.

Judge Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah today postponed the hearing to July 8, pending his decision to strike out the case.

Anwar had last week filed to the High Court for the sodomy charges against him to be dropped.

He claimed that two hospital reports on his accuser had put him in the clear.

Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, Anwar's former aide, accused the 61-year-old father of six of sexually attacking him in June last year. He had gone to a private hospital and Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) for medical exams to support his claims.

Both reports, the HKL report released recently, showed there was no penetration or wound on Mohd Saiful's anus.

The hearing for the case to be struck out, originally fixed for Friday, has also been pushed to July 8 because of a delay in getting some documents from the public prosecutor (PP) related to his trial.

Anwar accused the PP of purposely withholding information and denying him a fair trial.

But a lawyer on the prosecution team told The Malaysian Insider that they had given all the relevant documents that they would be using in the trial proper to Anwar's lawyers, as required by the law under Section 51A of the Criminal Penal Code (CPC).

The High Court is set to deal with that application on July 1.

Anwar is charged with sodomising the then 23-year-old Mohd Saiful at Desa Damansara Condominium in the leafy enclave of Damansara Heights in June last year.

If found guilty, he can be jailed up to 20 years and whipped under Section 377B of the Penal Code.

The former deputy prime minister, who made his comeback after winning the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election last year, has lately been using the Sodomy II charge against him in a campaign to discredit the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. (TMI)