Police Chief Beat Anwar, Lawyer Confirms  
International Herald Tribune
March 1, 1999
Thomas Fuller 

Five months after Anwar Ibrahim was blindfolded and severely beaten in police custody, a lawyer for the retired chief of police stunned a packed courtroom Sunday by admitting that his client had delivered the blows to the ousted deputy prime minister.

A lawyer for Abdul Rahim Noor, who was the country's highest ranking police officer before he resigned this year, told a commission looking into the beating that his client had "lost his cool" after Mr. Anwar accused him of being the "father of all dogs."

"He acted under grave provocation," the lawyer said.

Mr. Anwar, who was handcuffed and blindfolded during the incident, denied any provocation or that any words had been spoken before he was beaten.

The commission of inquiry into Mr. Anwar's injuries, closely watched by Malaysians, comes at a sensitive time for the country's governing coalition, which must call elections before April next year.

Details of the beating — which convulsed the political establishment and shocked the country — have come into focus in the last week following testimony from doctors who examined the former deputy prime minister, from police officers near the scene at the time of the beating and from Mr. Anwar himself.

Mr. Anwar was arrested Sept. 20 after leading the largest anti-government demonstration in the history of this capital, openly challenging the 18-year rule of Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad. Until he was fired, Mr. Anwar had been the prime minister's chosen successor.

A police commando unit wearing black ski masks and carrying assault rifles raided Mr. Anwar's house that night, breaking down the door and breaking up an informal press conference.

Mr. Anwar was given an hour to prepare his belongings before being escorted past hundreds of angry supporters to a police van outside his house.

He was blindfolded and handcuffed on the way to police headquarters, where he was placed in a cell, Mr. Anwar testified last week.

Moments before his beating, he said, he heard people approaching the cell and guessed that they were senior officers because the heels of other officers clicked to attention as they walked past.

"From the footsteps, I was quite certain there was at least two people inside the cell," Mr. Anwar told the three-man inquiry last week.

"I heard one clearing his throat. It sounded familiar," he said, adding that he thought it was Mr. Rahim, whom he had worked with closely during his time in government.

The beating left Mr. Anwar barely conscious.

"It is fortunate that this man did not succumb to death," Halim Mansar, a forensic expert, told the panel last week. "He's just lucky."

Mr. Anwar said he was struck hard in the eye. "I fell backwards on the cement slab," he said. "Someone grabbed my hand, my right upper arm, then I was hit again — a heavy blow on the top right of my head. Then left, a lot of blows and a karate chop of the left side of my neck.

"Then left, right and hard strong slaps. The left slaps more toward the ear, right toward the front side of the face and close to the mouth," he said.

Mr. Anwar was not given medical treatment until four days after the beating. On the same day, Mr. Rahim told reporters at a news conference that Mr. Anwar was "safe and sound." The incident was made public nine days after the beating, when Mr. Anwar appeared in court badly bruised.

"If I'm given this kind of treatment, what about the other people in this country?" an emotional Mr. Anwar asked last week, raising his voice. "I do not want this to recur! This is our country! Get the facts! Never mind the political implications!"

A government prosecutor, Mohamed Yusof Zainal Abidin, then interrupted the proceedings: "I think he has gone beyond the terms of reference." But Mahadev Shankar, a former appeals court judge who is one of the members of the panel investigating the beating, disagreed.

"This man was in pain," he said. "He was asking for medical treatment and we should not hear about that?" Mr. Anwar was allowed to continue.

The three men presiding over the inquiry — two former judges and a surgeon — do not have power to prosecute but will make recommendations to the king of Malaysia.

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