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Malaysia's Sodomy Judge Gags Press

Compiled By GayToday

Prime Minister Mathathir Mohamad (left) and his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim

Kuala Lampur--Former Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, recently convicted and sentenced to six years imprisonment in a "corruption" case that legal experts from many lands deemed farcical, is again facing charges believed to have been trumped up by his former boss, Malaysia's current Prime Minister, Mathathir Mohamad.

Many Malaysians believe that Anwar's predicament stems from the Prime Minister's fear of Anwar as a political competitor.

The current charges invoking the "crime" of sodomy were originally part of Anwar's corruption trial, but were adjudged as needing a separate trial. There remains, say prosecutors, another corruption count as well as five sodomy charges.

This forthcoming trial, which Judge Abdul Wahab Patail has set for June 7, will be, by current legal standards, even more farcical than the last . Media, says the judge, must restrict its reporting to "factual" evidence presented to the court. He states:

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Malaysia Prime Minister's Office
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No comment, interview or statement, other than a factual report of evidence or submissions in relation to the proceedings before the court or any matter related to it, is permitted to be published in any form.

The judge says that a reporter who flouts this order will be barred thereafter from the court and has instructed all lawyers to refrain from any contact with the press during Anwar's trial.

If Anwar Ibrahim is found guilty of sodomy he faces, under Malaysian law, a maximum prison term of 20 years and a mandatory whipping. Two men, detained by police, confessed to having had sex with him, but later recanted their confessions, charging that police had tortured them.

Anwar is married to a physician who has given him strong public support and is effectively rallying Prime Minister Mathathir Mohamad's many opponents.