Anwar fails to disqualify sodomy lawyers

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday failed in his bid to disqualify seven lawyers in the prosecution team charging him for sodomy after the High Court threw out his application accusing them of bias and prejudice.

According to Justice Alizatul Khair Osman Kamaruddin, Anwar’s bid should have been done through the criminal court.

“In this case, Datuk Seri Anwar is not challenging any specific Act or specific unlawful or wrongful exercise of power by a public authority. In other words, what the applicant is seeking is to recuse the seven. To my mind, for such an application, the appropriate court is the criminal court and not this court,” Alizatul ruled.

anwar.pngFresh bid to disqualify the 7 on the cards

In the dock for allegedly sodomising a former aide, Anwar had wanted to bar the seven because he believes they would be influenced by the Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail, who was also the lead prosecutor in a previous sodomy trial against him.

In 1999, Anwar - a former Deputy Prime Minister - was jailed on sodomy and graft charges. The sodomy charges were later overturned in 2004, enabling him to make a brilliant political comeback. However, in 2008, he was again accused of sodomy – this time by a personal aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

The 62-year Permatang Pauh MP has pleaded not guilty, counter-accusing Prime Minister Najib Razak of fabricating the case to kill his growing political clout.

The seven lawyers are Solicitor General I Idrus Harun, Solicitor General II Yusof Zainal Abiden, deputy public prosecutors (DPP) Nordin Hassan, Hanafiah Zakaria, Wong Chiang Kiat, Shamsul Sulaiman and Noorin Badaruddin.

According to Anwar's counsel Sivarasa Rasiah, they could still apply to the criminal court as suggested by the judge. “The issue of disqualification of the seven is not over,” he said.


comments

This is apolitical assassination and not about answering to frame-up charges.

If Anwar is being made to answer to charges in this court, then this court should hear his application to disqualify the prosecution team, otherwise justice is not seen to be served upon him.

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