Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial adjourned yesterday for a visit to the apartment where he is alleged to have had illicit sexual relations with a young male aide.
Anwar and his wife and lawyers, together with his 24-year-old accuser Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, prosecutors and the High Court judge presiding over the case, left the court in a 10-vehicle convoy.
“We are going to the site,” Anwar told reporters as he departed under a police escort for the Desa Damansara condominium in an expensive Kuala Lumpur suburb.
As Saiful alighted from the car, a woman among a group of opposition supporters yelled repeatedly: “You have no shame.”
Anwar, 62, left the building after about half an hour, rolling down the window of his car to smile and wave at supporters.
The former deputy premier, who was sacked and jailed on corruption and sodomy charges a decade ago, has dismissed the new allegations, which carry a penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment, as a plot to end his political career.
On Wednesday the trial opened with Saiful testifying that Anwar, using vulgar language, propositioned him for sex shortly after he came to the apartment on June 26, 2008, to deliver a document.
He said he went to the bathroom to wash himself, undressed, hung up his clothes and wrapped himself in a towel, returning to the bedroom where he was embraced by Anwar who was also wearing just a towel.
His testimony was cut short when the judge agreed to a defense application to hear the rest of the account in a closed hearing.
Anwar’s press secretary Eekmal Ahmad confirmed that Saiful gave further testimony in a private hearing.
“I do not have any details on what is being said as it is closed to everyone but the lawyers and individuals involved,” he said.
Prosecutors said on Tuesday that two days after the alleged incident Saiful underwent a medical examination at a hospital and that DNA tests on samples taken from his body found traces of Anwar’s semen.
Prosecutor Mohamed Yusof Zainal Abiden said Anwar’s guilt would be proven through Saiful’s testimony, as well as “forensic evidence from doctors and chemists alongside circumstantial evidence and documentary evidence.”
Sodomy, even among consenting adults, carries a penalty of up to 20 years in Malaysia, a conservative and Muslim-majority country.
Saiful was the first witness called in the trial, which is taking place after months of delays caused by defense applications including an attempt to gain access to evidence such as medical reports and closed-circuit TV footage.
Anwar has accused Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife of being personally involved in fabricating the charges.
STEPPING UP: Diminished US polar science presence mean opportunities for the UK and other countries, although China or Russia might also fill that gap, a researcher said The UK’s flagship polar research vessel is to head to Antarctica next week to help advance dozens of climate change-linked science projects, as Western nations spearhead studies there while the US withdraws. The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a state-of-the-art ship named after the renowned British naturalist, would aid research on everything from “hunting underwater tsunamis” to tracking glacier melt and whale populations. Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the country’s polar research institute, the 15,000-tonne icebreaker — boasting a helipad, and various laboratories and gadgetry — is pivotal to the UK’s efforts to assess climate change’s impact there. “The saying goes
Police in China detained dozens of pastors of one of its largest underground churches over the weekend, a church spokesperson and relatives said, in the biggest crackdown on Christians since 2018. The detentions, which come amid renewed China-US tensions after Beijing dramatically expanded rare earth export controls last week, drew condemnation from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who on Sunday called for the immediate release of the pastors. Pastor Jin Mingri (金明日), founder of Zion Church, an unofficial “house church” not sanctioned by the Chinese government, was detained at his home in the southern city of Beihai on Friday evening, said
TICKING CLOCK: A path to a budget agreement was still possible, the president’s office said, as a debate on reversing an increase of the pension age carries on French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday was racing to find a new prime minister within a two-day deadline after the resignation of outgoing French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu tipped the country deeper into political crisis. The presidency late on Wednesday said that Macron would name a new prime minister within 48 hours, indicating that the appointment would come by this evening at the latest. Lecornu told French television in an interview that he expected a new prime minister to be named — rather than early legislative elections or Macron’s resignation — to resolve the crisis. The developments were the latest twists in three tumultuous
FIRST STAGE: Hamas has agreed to release 48 Israeli hostages in exchange for 250 ‘national security prisoners’ as well as 1,700 Gazans, but has resisted calls to disarm Israel plans to destroy what remains of Hamas’ network of tunnels under Gaza, working with US approval after its hostages are freed, it said yesterday. Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz said that the operation would be conducted under an “international mechanism” led by the US. “Israel’s great challenge after the hostage release phase will be the destruction of all Hamas terrorist tunnels in Gaza,” Katz said. “I have ordered the army to prepare to carry out this mission,” he added. Hamas operates a network of tunnels under Gaza, allowing its fighters to operate out of sight of Israeli reconnaissance. Some have passed under
RSS