Karpal’s brother dies, trial postponed

The hearing will now continue next Monday.

KUALA LUMPUR: Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial came to an abrupt halt today after the court was told that lead defence lawyer Karpal Singh’s brother passed away last night.

Fellow counsel Sankara Nair told the court at the start of today’s proceedings that Karpal’s youngest brother passed away at 11pm yesterday.

On hearing this, and based on the defence’s application for postponement, presiding High Court judge Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah adjourned the hearing to Monday.

The court was to have heard the defence reply to the prosecution’s twin applications – for the judge to review his own ruling in rejecting DNA evidence and for the court to order Anwar to provide his DNA sample for testing.

This is the second time that Anwar, PKR’s de facto leader, has been charged with sodomy, the first time being in 1998. He was eventually acquitted.

In the current case, the accuser was his former personal aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azan. He alleges that Anwar sodomised him at a condominium in Bukit Damansara on June 26, 2008.
If convicted, Anwar can be jailed for up to 20 years jail and whipped.