PUTRAJAYA, 1 July 2009: The Court of Appeal will decide tomorrow on the appeal on the right forum to hear the Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim sodomy trial.
Justice Datuk Abdull Hamid Embong, who sat with justices Datuk Abu Samah Nordin and Datuk Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha, said he would give the oral decision on Anwar’s appeal to overturn the High Court’s decision that his sodomy case be tried at the High Court.
Anwar, who was accompanied by his wife Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail today, is appealing against the High Court’s decision on 5 March which reversed the Sessions Court’s decision to retain his sodomy case to be tried at the Sessions Court.
By procedure, as the case originated at the subordinate court, the final appeal is at the Court of Appeal.
Anwar, 62, is charged with sodomising his former aide, 23-year-old Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, at Unit 11-5-1, Desa Damansara Condominium, Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara between 3.01 pm and 4.30 pm on 26 June 2008. On 18 June this year, a medical report by Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) has found no evidence of anal penetration of Saiful, raising doubts about the credibility of his charge against Anwar.
The case is fixed for trial on 8 July before High Court judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah.
In KUALA LUMPUR, High Court Judge Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah fixed this Friday, 3 July, for hearing of Anwar’s application to compel the prosecution to provide him with all documents pertaining to his sodomy case.
The matter was supposed to be heard today, but yesterday a stay order on all matters in the High Court was granted by the Court of Appeal pending the outcome of its (the Court of Appeal’s) decision.
Among the documents sought include the original CCTV recordings taken at several locations at the scene of the alleged incident in Desa Damansara Condominium, Jalan Setia Kasih, Bukit Damansara, the DNA samples, statements from witnesses including the complainant Mohd Saiful, and police statements.
In the proceedings today, Anwar’s other counsel SN Nair requested the judge to fix a mention date to enable the counsel to come to the court to look into their free dates to fix for hearing of the application.
But Deputy Public Prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin sought the court to proceed with the hearing tomorrow as she said there was indication that the Court of Appeal would give its decision today.
Mohamad Zabidin, however, fixed Friday for hearing and requested Nair to inform Anwar’s lead counsel Sulaiman Abdullah to give priority to this application — Bernama
