Documents from the Case of Malaysia’ Public Prosecutor vs. Anwar Ibrahim
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim remains among the most durable politicians in Southeast Asia, on the global scene since his service as Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister from 1993 to 1998. Originally a close ally of Malaysia’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, Anwar had a falling out with Mahathir which ended with his sentencing in 1999 to six years in prison for corruption, and in 2000, to another nine years for sodomy. After he served most of his sentence on his first conviction, the Malaysian high Federal Court reversed his second conviction on the basis that the trial was unfair, and Anwar was released.
In July 2008, Anwar was again arrested over allegations he sodomised one of his male aides. Since then, he has faced a lengthy trial, with the prosecution completing its case on March 24, 2011. On May 16, 2011, Malaysia's High Court ruled that prosecutors established a credible sodomy case against Anwar, forcing the opposition leader's lawyers to start presenting defense witnesses. In making the ruling, High Court Judge Mohamad Zabidin Diah said he found Saiful Bukhari Azlan, the former aides of Anwar who brought the sodomy complaint against him, truthful and reliable while testifying that Anwar made him have sex in a Kuala Lumpur apartment in 2008. The judge said that he found a prima facie case had been made out against the accused.
Anwar has insisted that the government fabricated the charge that he sodomized his 25-year-old male former aide in a plot carried out in part by Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak and other officials. All have denied the charge. Sodomy, even consensual, is a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
In light of the sensationalism of the charges, and Anwar’s status as head of the opposition in Malaysia, the trial has received wide attention. On 26 August 2008, Anwar won re-election in the Permatang Pauh by-election and returned to Parliament as leader of the Malaysian opposition. He has stated the need for liberalisation, including an independent judiciary and free media, to combat the endemic corruption that he considers pushes Malaysia close to failed state status.
These documents constitute unedited, complete English-language versions of the Public Prosecutor’s Submission of the facts setting out the case against Anwar at the end of the prosecution’s presentation of the facts in April 2011, and a rebuttal by prosecutors to a report filed by an observer on behalf of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU), raising questions about the evidence submitted in the trial.
As the defense presents its documentary response to the prosecutors’ submissions, these documents will be provided as well.
