Don’t fight Sodomy II verdict, Bar tells A-G

By Debra Chong

January 09, 2012

Lim said enough public funds and resources had already been spent on the case. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 — Malaysian Bar president Lim Chee Wee today urged the Attorney-General (A-G) not to appeal against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy acquittal and to instead focus on more serious crimes.

The Bar Council chief said the High Court had ruled fairly in the case, and based his decision on the principles of natural justice.

“The case has unnecessarily taken up judicial time and public funds,” he said in a statement today, adding the law “criminalises” sexual relations between two consenting adults.

Lim said the sodomy charge against the opposition leader was based on an “archaic” provision of the Penal Code and should never have been used.

This morning, trial judge Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah ruled that the prosecution had not done enough to prove Anwar had committed sodomy against former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 26.

He noted the lack of full disclosure, as well as the unreliability of both the DNA evidence presented and the prosecution team’s key witness, Saiful.

Anwar, 64, had been similarly indicted of sodomy over a decade ago and was found guilty. He spent six years in jail before being exonerated.