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Malaysia's Anwar under arrest
Malaysia's Anwar under arrest
BY ROMEN BOSE
IN KUALA LUMPUR
17/07/2008 12:00:00 AM
Malaysian Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim was arrested yesterday, police said, over allegations that he sodomised a male aide. The allegations threaten to thwart his plan to seize power.
Mr Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, said she feared for Mr Anwar's safety, after the events of a decade ago when he was sacked as deputy premier, beaten up by the police chief and jailed for six years on sodomy and corruption charges.
''My concern is for my husband's safety and we want access to see him,'' said Ms Azizah, a parliamentarian whose Keadilan party leads a three-member opposition alliance.
''I feel apprehensive because my husband is 10 years down the road, he is not that well, he has a bad back, he's had surgery and from a brief conversation, he said they [police] were not gentle,'' she said.
Earlier, Mr Anwar dismissed the accusations as a conspiracy to prevent him from seizing power, and said it was a re-run of past events when he was slapped with charges widely seen as politically motivated.
''There's no basis for this whole fabrication and malicious attacks. It is just a repeat of the 1998 script. You can see the pattern,'' he said. ''I will challenge them on every ground.'' The charges threaten to derail Mr Anwar's political comeback, and his plans to oust the Government with the help of defecting lawmakers, after landmark March elections that handed the opposition unprecedented gains.
Keadilan said Mr Anwar was in a vehicle approaching his home when the road was blocked by 10 police cars and of 20 balaclava-clad special forces troops who took him to Kuala Lumpur police headquarters.
His lawyer, Sankara Nair, criticised authorities for pouncing just an hour before Mr Anwar had agreed to appear at the headquarters for questioning, and said it was unclear how long he would be detained.
Deputy national police chief Ismail Omar confirmed Mr Anwar had been arrested, saying he was a suspect in the sodomy case and would undergo a medical examination.
''He is not being charged with anything yet, don't jump to conclusions,'' Mr Ismail said.
''We have to record his statement to complete our investigations,'' he said. ''Once the facts are in we can make a decision.''
Police can detain him for 24 hours after which they must apply for a court order that would allow them to keep him for up to 14 days without charge.
It was not clear why Mr Anwar was taken into custody, even though he had agreed to be questioned over assault allegations levelled by Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, a 23-year-old who was a volunteer in his office.
Sodomy, even between consenting adults, is illegal in predominantly Muslim Malaysia and carries a penalty of up to 20 years imprisonment.
Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan described the arrest as regrettable and said police appeared to have acted because they thought Mr Anwar would not turn up for the interrogation.
''The treatment of Anwar will receive the utmost public scrutiny and we really hope we are not seeing a repeat of the fiasco of 1998,'' she said.
''They didn't need to arrest him, that's not a very good start.'' Keadilan vice-president Syed Husin Ali said the party feared police were trying to obtain information in the interrogation session that they could use to doctor the allegations against him.
''I would say police don't have enough evidence so they are trying to force more evidence from Anwar,'' he said.
Keadilan issued an immediate call for its supporters to rally outside the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters. The mood there was tense, with up to 100 armed officers watching over about 600 protesters.
Syed Husin said Mr Anwar had sent out a message calling for restraint, for fear the Government would use protests as a justification for a wider crackdown including the arrests of more opposition leaders. ''He calls upon his supporters and the people of Malaysia to remain calm and to reject any provocation which would give a pretext for any emergency action to be taken.'' AFP
Local News
News
General
Malaysia's Anwar under arrest
Malaysia's Anwar under arrest
BY ROMEN BOSE
IN KUALA LUMPUR
17/07/2008 12:00:00 AM
Malaysian Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim was arrested yesterday, police said, over allegations that he sodomised a male aide. The allegations threaten to thwart his plan to seize power.
Mr Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, said she feared for Mr Anwar's safety, after the events of a decade ago when he was sacked as deputy premier, beaten up by the police chief and jailed for six years on sodomy and corruption charges.
''My concern is for my husband's safety and we want access to see him,'' said Ms Azizah, a parliamentarian whose Keadilan party leads a three-member opposition alliance.
''I feel apprehensive because my husband is 10 years down the road, he is not that well, he has a bad back, he's had surgery and from a brief conversation, he said they [police] were not gentle,'' she said.
Earlier, Mr Anwar dismissed the accusations as a conspiracy to prevent him from seizing power, and said it was a re-run of past events when he was slapped with charges widely seen as politically motivated.
''There's no basis for this whole fabrication and malicious attacks. It is just a repeat of the 1998 script. You can see the pattern,'' he said. ''I will challenge them on every ground.'' The charges threaten to derail Mr Anwar's political comeback, and his plans to oust the Government with the help of defecting lawmakers, after landmark March elections that handed the opposition unprecedented gains.
Keadilan said Mr Anwar was in a vehicle approaching his home when the road was blocked by 10 police cars and of 20 balaclava-clad special forces troops who took him to Kuala Lumpur police headquarters.
His lawyer, Sankara Nair, criticised authorities for pouncing just an hour before Mr Anwar had agreed to appear at the headquarters for questioning, and said it was unclear how long he would be detained.
Deputy national police chief Ismail Omar confirmed Mr Anwar had been arrested, saying he was a suspect in the sodomy case and would undergo a medical examination.
''He is not being charged with anything yet, don't jump to conclusions,'' Mr Ismail said.
''We have to record his statement to complete our investigations,'' he said. ''Once the facts are in we can make a decision.''
Police can detain him for 24 hours after which they must apply for a court order that would allow them to keep him for up to 14 days without charge.
It was not clear why Mr Anwar was taken into custody, even though he had agreed to be questioned over assault allegations levelled by Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, a 23-year-old who was a volunteer in his office.
Sodomy, even between consenting adults, is illegal in predominantly Muslim Malaysia and carries a penalty of up to 20 years imprisonment.
Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan described the arrest as regrettable and said police appeared to have acted because they thought Mr Anwar would not turn up for the interrogation.
''The treatment of Anwar will receive the utmost public scrutiny and we really hope we are not seeing a repeat of the fiasco of 1998,'' she said.
''They didn't need to arrest him, that's not a very good start.'' Keadilan vice-president Syed Husin Ali said the party feared police were trying to obtain information in the interrogation session that they could use to doctor the allegations against him.
''I would say police don't have enough evidence so they are trying to force more evidence from Anwar,'' he said.
Keadilan issued an immediate call for its supporters to rally outside the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters. The mood there was tense, with up to 100 armed officers watching over about 600 protesters.
Syed Husin said Mr Anwar had sent out a message calling for restraint, for fear the Government would use protests as a justification for a wider crackdown including the arrests of more opposition leaders. ''He calls upon his supporters and the people of Malaysia to remain calm and to reject any provocation which would give a pretext for any emergency action to be taken.'' AFP