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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Are Malaysia's prosecuor liars? Anwar Ibrahim Sodomy 2 trial

Solicitor-General II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden
A big fuss was created at the trial of Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy 2 trial resulting in a shouting match between the lead prosecutor for the case, Solicitor-General 2 Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden (Datuk tite removed because I don't think our Datuks deserve their titles).

During the shouting match, Yusof claimed that the defence were given everything. Is that correct? Weren't the defence denied access to Saiful's police reports, the General Hospital's doctors' reports etc. So Malaysians, judge for yourself. Are our public prosecutors all a bunch of liars?

Shouting match at sodomy trial
There was pandemonium at the Kuala Lumpur High Court as a verbal free-for-all broke out today during the continuation of the Anwar Ibrahim sodomy trial.

The defence lawyers, the accused and Solicitor-General II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden were all involved, as were Anwar's supporters in the public gallery.

Yusof (right) has been a face of calm throughout the proceedings, but not today.

The shouting started after Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah stood down the case due to a deadlock in the cross-examination of prosecution witness Dr Siew Sheue Seng of Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

Siew had refused to look at the sexual assault report form in which he had filled the particulars of complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, as senior defence lawyer Karpal Singh asked him about questions on the form and what he had written.

At times when Siew could not remember details such as Saiful's identity card number and police report number, he sought to refer to his final medical report and not the “pro-forma form” in which he had jotted down the particulars.

This led to a fiery exchange between the doctor and Karpal, with Siew maintaining that he did not want to look at the pro-forma form, but at the medical report.

Justice Zabidin ordered a recess and was about to leave the courtroom, when Karpal (left) made a remark that the witness appeared to be programmed like a robot in order to suppress evidence.

“What is the prosecution afraid of?” he asked.

Yusof took exception, saying the comment was unfair.

Anwar, who had left the dock, entered the fray by saying the prosecution is trying to fix him up.

“This is too much as you all (prosecution) are suppressing evidence and this is unfair,” he said.

Yusof rebutted by asking what Anwar found unfair, considering that the prosecution had given the defence everything.

As Anwar argued with Yusof, defence lawyer Sankara Nair questioned what the prosecution had actually handed over, given that documents had been withheld at each stage of the hearing.

Police warning

Anwar's supporters in the public gallery then joined in, also claiming that the prosecution is being unfair.

Anwar's wife Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail rushed over from the public gallery to try and calm him.

By now more police personnel were adding to the three already in the courtroom, to restore order.

A police officer was seen to be warning one of Anwar's supporters who had shouted at Yusof, prompting the latter to shout back: “You do not know the law!”.

Anwar confronted the police officer, shouting "Jangan nak tunjuk kuasa!" (Don't exert your authority).

The court interpreters and police told a number of those in public gallery, including PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, to leave the room if they intended to have a discussion.

Anwar and his supporters immediately left, returning about an hour later. He assured a police officer that he would remain calm.

No police reports have been lodged on the incident.

Source: Malaysiakini: Shouting match at sodomy trial

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