Malaysia's Anwar seeks to block sodomy charge
The Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur | Thu, 06/18/2009 10:50 AM
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has sought to block his trial on an alleged sodomy charge by asking a Malaysian court to throw out the case, his lawyer said Thursday.
The government has repeatedly denied Anwar's claim that the charge was orchestrated to block him from leading a three-party opposition alliance that severely eroded the ruling coalition's parliamentary majority in the March 2008 election.
Anwar submitted a petition to the High Court on Wednesday that said the case was a conspiracy concocted by his foes in the government, Anwar's lawyer, Sankara Nair, said in a statement.
The charge "is a travesty, a complete farce and has absolutely no basis whatsoever, as there is no case against our client," Nair said.
Anwar, 61, was charged last August with allegedly sodomizing a 23-year-old male former aide. The trial is due to begin July 1. Anwar faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of sodomy, a crime in this Muslim-majority country.
The High Court did not immediately set a date to hear Anwar's petition. If the trial does take place, Anwar wants a postponement because his lawyers have not received key documents fromthe prosecution, Nair said.
The top government prosecutor for the case could not immediately be contacted, and a colleague declined to comment on Anwar's move.
Saiful Bukhari Azlan, the man who accused Anwar of sodomizing him, wrote on a blog Thursday that "if it is fated for this case to be dropped n a court of this world, it is all right."
"I accept it because Allah's court will judge this matter" in the afterlife, he wrote.
Anwar, a former deputy prime minister, spent six years in prison for corruption and sodomy after he was ousted from the Cabinet in 1998. He maintained his innocence all aong and was freed in 2004 when Malaysia's top court overturned the sodomy conviction.
Anwar revived his political career in last year's elections when his alliance won more than one-third of the seats in Parliament amid public disenchantment with the National Front governing coalition, which has been in poer since 1957.
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