Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
PUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is attempting to remove a paragraph in a Federal Court judgment in the first sodomy case which state that he had homosexual tendencies.
Anwar had filed the application in May this year, nine years after he was acquitted and discharged by the Federal Court for allegedly sodomising his family driver Azizan Abu Bakar.
The Federal Court will hear his review application on Nov 13, in a bid to have the paragraph expunged.
Anwar was freed by the Federal Court on Sept 2, 2004 in a 2-1 majority decision on a charge of allegedly sodomising Azizan.
The Federal Court had overturned a High Court’s decision to sentence Anwar to nine years’ imprisonment.
The same Federal Court panel had also overturned the conviction and six year jail sentence on Anwar’s adopted brother Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja who was jointly tried with Anwar for allegedly sodomising Azizan in Tivoli Villa in Kuala Lumpur in 1994.
Then Federal Court judge Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad, who later became the Chief Justice, wrote the majority judgment.
In the majority judgment, he (Abdul Hamid) had said “we find evidence to confirm that the appellants (Anwar and Sukma Darmawan) were involved in homosexual activities and we are more inclined to believe that the alleged incident at Tivoli Villa did happen, some time…”.
Anwar’s lawyer Latheefa Koya said Anwar filed the application in order to clear his name, as people were using the judgment to justify slander against him, adding that when Anwar wanted to sue them for defamation, they would rely on this judgment.
“It has to be noted that the remark was incorporated in a judgment of Anwar’s acquittal over sodomy allegations,” she said. — Bernama