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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian opposition figurehead Anwar
Ibrahim on Wednesday filed a complaint in the Islamic court that
challenges a young male aide who accuses him of sodomy to prove his
allegations.
Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 23,
has been under police protection since accusing Anwar of sodomizing
him—the same charge that sent the opposition leader to jail a
decade ago.
“On the advice of Muslim
scholars . . . I have decided to make this report to Islamic courts
in Malaysia, under the provision of malicious attack on my character
. . . and as demeaning to me and my family,” Anwar said.
“This slander is a major issue
because it involves a sexual crime and the attempt is of course to
mislead the Muslim population, to attack me and my character.”
Under sharia laws, which run in
parallel to the secular courts in predominantly Muslim Malaysia,
Saiful will be required to produce four credible witnesses to back
up his claims, lawyers said.
If he fails to do so, he can be
declared a “fasid” or unreliable person, and faces three years
imprisonment for bearing false witness.
“In Islam, a man is presumed
innocent until proven guilty,” Anwar’s Islamic counsel Kamar
Ainah Kamaruzaman said.
“Whoever accuses him must bring
the proof. It is not for him to prove his innocence, it’s for the
accuser to prove that he is guilty,” she said.
Anwar has reportedly been
challenged by Islamic scholars and his 23-year-old accuser to swear
on the Koran that he did not sexually assault the young aide,
according to news reports.
The sodomy claim threatens to
derail a stunning political comeback by Anwar, who was sacked as
deputy premier in 1998 and jailed on sodomy and corruption
allegations that he claims were politically motivated.
Anwar has said he is poised to
seize power from Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi with the help of
government defectors, after his opposition alliance claimed
one-third of parliamentary seats and five states in March elections.
He is now embroiled in a
political battle with Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak—Abdullah’s
heir apparent—trading serious allegations that have deepened
Malaysia’s political crisis.
--AFP
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