Lawyer: Police filmed Anwar's every move
Malaysiakini.com
Jul 25, 2008
Syed Jaymal Zahiid 

Anwar Ibrahim's every move was allegedly videotaped after he was taken to the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters following his arrest last week, said PKR vice-president R Sivarasa.
MCPX

anwar ibrahim freed from police ipk detention pc 170708 09"The moment he arrived at the police headquarters he was being videotaped. They videotaped him when he wanted to go to the toilet and everywhere else.

"They even videotaped him while he wanted to perform his prayers. They stopped after he pleaded that they stop doing so as he is about to pray," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

Anwar was arrested on July 16 in connection with a sodomy allegation against him by his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan. The PKR de facto leader was released the next morning.

Sivarasa said in his 20 years as a practicing lawyer, he had never come across police videotaping detainees.

"What happened to Anwar was unprecedented," he stressed, questioning the motive behind this.

Yesterday, online news portal Malaysian Insider reported that the police were considering making the close-circuit television (CCTV) footage of Anwar’s detention public to counter claims that he was mistreated.

However, deputy inspector-general of police Ismail Omar and Kuala Lumpur deputy police chief Abdul Samah Mat have denied this.

'Forensic team sweeps cell'

Meanwhile, Sivarasa also claimed that a forensic team had 'cleaned up' the cell where Anwar was detained to collect any possible samples for DNA extraction.

sivarasa questioned by police on balasubramaniam case 250708 03"We heard the forensic team was called in to sweep everything and collect hair samples, skin samples and we may speculate that the police may try and use it as evidence.

"But legally, the samples collected cannot be used as evidence as it might be mixed up with traces from other detainees whom had been detained prior to Anwar," he said.

Apart from this, Sivarasa also claimed that the police had misled him and other PKR leaders into believing that Anwar would not be detained overnight and be freed on police bail the same day.

"They said they would let him go on police bail but they did not. We found out that the lock-ups were already cleared by noon which shows they were already prepared to hold them," he said.

The PKR vice-president questioned the need for the overnight detention stating that the police could have released him and called him for investigation the next day.

During his detention, Anwar was taken to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital where he had refused to provide a DNA sample because he feared that it would be fabricated.

The opposition stalwart also claimed that the sodomy allegation was a political conspiracy to frustrate the opposition alliance Pakatan Rakyat from taking over the government.

The authorities have denied this.

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