ANWAR: Wants to disqualify judge in his sodomy trial

KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s second sodomy trial this morning was postponed again to tomorrow.

This is because the defence's lead counsel, Karpal Singh, wanted time to respond to the prosecution’s affidavit against disqualifying presiding High Court judge Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah.

Yesterday, Karpal moved to disqualify the judge for what the defence claimed as biasness in the court in dealing with local Malay daily Utusan Malaysia’s coverage of Anwar's case. Anwar is standing trial for sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 25, at Desa Damansara Condominium on June 26, 2008.

Anwar, who appeared in court in dark blue suit and seen joking with fellow party members and well-wishers, had denied the charge, the second he is facing in 12 years.

The judge adjourned the case to 9.30am tomorrow to allow Karpal to file his reply later today.

Earlier, the judge said he was against interfering in the matters of the Press.

“I believe in the freedom of the Press and don’t want to be seen as encroaching into this area,” he told Karpal.

Today’s postponement has also to do with the technical differences between the defence and the prosecution.

The judge cannot hear the defence application to discharge himself because both are disputing several words uttered by Mohd Saiful in court last week which Utusan Malaysia had picked up and reported.

The defence claimed the word “lagi” in the Utusan Malaysia frontpage headline Tak Rela Diliwat Lagi on Feb 4 was not uttered by Mohd Saiful which would give a different meaning to the trial as it would seem that Mohd Saiful was repeatedly sodomised.

One of Anwar’s defence lawyers, S.N. Nair, later told The Malay Mail that the defence had asked for the court transcription to determine if the disputing word “lagi” was recorded.

“If this technicality is ironed out, then the judge can hear our application to recuse himself.”

Earlier, while waiting for the proceeding to start, Anwar mingled with the crowd. Seeing how packed the public gallery was, he jokingly told his fellow party members that if they were finding difficulty in getting a seat, they could "join" him in the dock.

Yesterday, the High Court had postponed the trial to today, supposedly,  after Anwar had made an application for Mohamad Zabidin to recuse himself from the trial.

Anwar had applied for Mohamad Zabidin to disqualify himself from the trial on grounds that the latter had refused to cite local Malay daily Utusan Malaysia for contempt of court over two articles and a photograph which Anwar had claimed as misleading.

The high-profile trial, which had drawn coverage from both the local and foreign media, began last Wednesday, 18 months after Anwar was first charged on Aug 7, 2008.

Yesterday, Mohd Saiful was to have been cross-examined by the defence but the trial was postponed to today to hear the recusal application.