Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was set to appear in court Thursday to face sodomy charges, less than three weeks before he attempts to return to Parliament in a by-election.
Anwar accused Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of orchestrating the prosecution to destroy his political comeback, addig that he would hold Abdullah "personally responsible" for political turmoil that could result from a trial.
Abdullah insisted that police have proof of Anwar's wrongdoing and urged opposition supporters not to resort to street demonstrations to show their anger.
Police went to Anwar's home and serve an order for him to appear Thursday morning in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court to face the charge.
It will be the second time in a decade that the former deputy prime minister has been charged with sodomy, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Sodomy is illegal even among consentig adults in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
A 23-year-old male aide claimed Anwar had sodomized him in June. Anwar insists the allegation was fabricated to thwart his plan of seizing power from the government by mid-September.
If the court refuses to release Anwar on bail pending a trial, it would prevent him from campaigning in the Aug. 26 by-election for a parliamentary seat that his wife vacated last week. Anwar would still be allowed to contest the seat.
"Tomorrow I'll be charged with a crime I did not commit," Anwar told reporters Wednesday. "I will fight. I will not allow this cowardly attack to derail (the opposition's) agenda for change."
Anwar said he believed Abdullah and other government and police officials have pressed for him to be prosecuted despite what he said was a lack of evidence.
Abdullah is "a man under siege, and he sees no way out but to deflect the attention of the Malaysian peole with a sham trial against me," Anwar said. "He is burning the forest to save his own tree."
Abdullah denied any conspiracy, saying the prosecution was "on the basis of due process of the law" and not politically motivated.
"How could I insist that he be charged? If there is no evidence, the plice are not so stupid to charge" him, Abdullah told a news conference late Wednesday.
Analysts have forecast that Anwar will win because the constituency has been his stronghold since the early 1980s, including nearly two decades when he was in the government. He was ousted as deputy prime minister in 18 and imprisoned over accusations that he sodomized his driver and abused his power to cover up the offense.
A court quashed the sodomy conviction and freed him in 2004, but the corruption conviction barred him from office until April 2008. Anwar denied the charges and has waited since then to re-enter Parliament.
