Anwar moves to disqualify judge; Malaysia hits 'meddling' foreigners

MALAYSIAN opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim moved Monday to have the judge in his sodomy trial disqualified, complaining he had refused to rein in biased media coverage.

The trial, which Anwar says is a plot to end his political career, began last week with graphic testimony from 24-year-old former aide Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan who accuses Anwar of sodomising him.

Defence lawyers objected Friday when Utusan Malaysia, a Malay-language daily linked to the government, ran photographs of the court's closed-door visit to the apartment where the sexual encounter allegedly took place.

Judge Mohamad Zabidin Diah refused a request to admonish the daily over the pictures, as well as an earlier headline that said "Not willing to be sodomised again," which the defence said suggested they had sex more than once.

Anwar, who was jailed on separate sodomy and corruption charges a decade ago in a case widely seen as politically motivated, said in a statement to the High Court there was a "real danger of bias" on the part of the judge.

"The local media has condemned me as they did in 1998 without (giving me a) chance to listen to my reply," the 62-year-old opposition leader told reporters. "Clearly it's a political trial."

The judge adjourned the trial until Tuesday when he will hear the application to remove him from the proceedings.

Meanwhile, Malaysia hit out at foreign governments for interfering in the trial, which is being watched by Western nations whose diplomats have attended the hearings.

"They are welcome to follow Anwar's trial as closely as they want but they must observe our laws and not meddle in our internal affairs by hurling all sorts of accusations," said deputy foreign minister A Kohilan Pillay. "The case has only just begun so these foreign countries should please leave it to Malaysia's judges to decide rather than creating their own trial by making damaging comments about our system."

Kohilan did not single out any nation for criticism but the government-linked New Straits Times reported on a speech to Australia's parliament by Michael Danby, chairman of its sub-committee on foreign affairs.

"The Malaysian legal system is being manipulated by supporters of the incumbent government to drive... Anwar Ibrahim out of national politics," Danby told parliament last week. "Perverting the legal system for political ends by charging Anwar with sexual offences is an affront to human rights." AFP