SINGAPORE, May 25 - Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said on Monday he is confident a court will find no evidence of sodomy when his case, which has inflamed political passions in Malaysia, resumes in July.
Anwar, who spent six years in jail on a 1998 sodomy conviction that was ultimately overturned, faces a 20-year sentence if convicted on the new charge. Homosexuality is outlawed in Malaysia.
That would effectively end his political career which has seen him come close to mounting a challenge to the National Front government that has ruled Malaysia for the 51 years since independence from Britain.
Political tensions in Malaysia have been stoked by arrests of opposition supporters and when Anwar was tried in the late 1990s, tens of thousands of people took to the streets.
"We've seen the conduct of the judiciary in the past, in the recent past ... as reasons to worry about that," Anwar told a luncheon of foreign correspondents in Singapore, in reply to a question about the possibility of mass protests at his trial.
His sodomy trial was transferred to the High Court in March, a move his lawyers have said could prejudice the 62-year old's chances of a fair hearing, because the Attorney General trying the case was investigated for allegedly tampering with evidence in Anwar's cases 10 years ago.
Anwar was arrested in July of last year for "sexual assault on a young male aide. It made little difference to his political popularity, because weeks later he won a by-election and returned in triumph to parliament as opposition leader after a decade's absence.
"We have all the medical records, the private doctors, the government doctors. Absolutely, there's no possibility of a penetration. Then how do you explain sodomy happening without penetration?" Anwar said.
"I don't think they can fool the Malaysian or international community by fabrication ... We will fight at this case. Clearly this is a malicious prosecution or persecution."
The People's Alliance grouping that Anwar now heads deprived the government of its two-thirds majority in parliamentary elections in March 2008 and ended up controlling five of Malaysia's 13 state legislatures, the best-ever result for the opposition.
The strong performance forced the then-Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to step aside early and be replaced by his deputy, Najib Razak, the son of Malaysia's second prime minister.
Anwar joked with reporters about all the mudslinging in Malaysia politics.
"Must I be angry? No, I will go through the process. They alleged me with man, woman, and they haven't gone to cows yet, so I'm still OK," Anwar joked about the sodomy case. - Reuters
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