Sodomy Trial of Anwar Opens With 2d Change to Charge
International Herald Tribune
June 8, 1999
Thomas Fuller

Prosecutors opened their sodomy case against Anwar Ibrahim on Monday, rewriting for a second time the charge against the former deputy prime minister.

Minutes after the trial began, government lawyers asked to change the wording of their charge, altering the month and year of the alleged act. Under Malaysian law, prosecutors are allowed to amend their charges at any point during a trial.

Mr. Anwar, who already has been sentenced to six years in prison for corruption, pleaded not guilty to the amended charge read out to him in court. But his lawyers immediately objected and said they would submit an application to have the case dismissed.

"Isn't this an indication that something is amiss?" Karpal Singh, a defense lawyer, asked the judge. "This is clearly an abuse of process of this court by the attorney general. What is being done is not a prosecution, but a persecution."

The government has now given three different dates for the alleged act of sodomy. When the case against Mr. Anwar was announced in September, prosecutors gave a time of "one night in the month of May 1994."

Several weeks ago, they changed the date to "one night in the month of May 1992," telling a judge at a preliminary hearing that there had been a typographical error in the original charges.

On Monday, the charge was changed to "one night sometime between January and March 1993." Prosecutors gave no specific reason for the change. Throughout, they have said the alleged incident took place around 7:45 P.M.

Mr. Anwar's lawyers argued that the government changed the dates because the previous charges were flawed.

"In May 1992, the place where the offense was alleged to have been committed did not exist," Mr. Karpal said. Mr. Anwar's lawyers also argued that the more vague new date of "sometime between January and March 1993" made it difficult for him to defend himself.

"Right from the beginning we don't have specific dates, just very general charges," said Raja Aziz Addruse, lead defense counsel for Mr. Anwar. "Surely we must have the day?"

Judge Ariffin Jaka appeared unmoved, saying "To me, this is just a simple amendment of a charge."

The defense is to submit its application to dismiss the case on the grounds of bad faith Tuesday.

The hearing Monday was the beginning of the second phase of criminal proceedings against Mr. Anwar, who was dismissed from his post in September by Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad.

He is accused of sodomizing Azizan Abu Bakar, a former driver for his family.

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