Anwar verdict sparks clashes and indignation<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysia's former finance minister
\nAnwar Ibrahim was sentenced to six years in jail for corruption
\non Wednesday, triggering violent street protests by enraged
\nsupporters and international indignation.<\/p>\n
A defiant Anwar said the verdict \"stinks to high heaven\" and
\nvowed to appeal against the judgment that could keep him out of
\npublic office until 2008.<\/p>\n
\"This is an absolute disgrace,\" the 51-year-old Anwar told the
\nHigh Court, saying Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had subverted
\nthe judiciary and the police in a political plot.<\/p>\n
Anwar was Mahathir's heir-apparent until last September when
\ntensions between the two reached breaking point and the prime
\nminister sacked his deputy.<\/p>\n
Outraged Anwar supporters clashed repeatedly with security
\nforces, playing cat and mouse throughout the day in the first
\nanti-government street protests in five months.<\/p>\n
Demonstrators threw stones and plastic bottles at riot police,
\nwho responded repeatedly with water cannon laced with eye-
\nirritating chemicals and indelible yellow-green dye.<\/p>\n
Protesters shouting anti-government slogans lit numerous
\nbonfires in the heart of the capital, throwing rubbish bins,
\nconstruction planks and newspaper into the flames.<\/p>\n
Angry demonstrators broke the windows of a car belonging to
\nprivate television broadcaster TV3, accused by Anwar's supporters
\nof toeing the government's line.<\/p>\n
Police said protesters broke windows in the courthouse and a
\nlocal police station, injuring a woman constable, as well as
\nwindows of several police vehicles.<\/p>\n
Riot police hit some protesters on the head and body with
\nbatons, leaving several of them bleeding, witnesses said.<\/p>\n
Human rights activist Tian Chua, one of the leaders of a new
\nparty formed earlier this month by Anwar's wife, and opposition
\nfigure Abdul Malek Husin were detained.<\/p>\n
Anwar's wife fought back tears on Wednesday as she spoke of
\nher fractured family.<\/p>\n
\"My children are deprived of their father,\" Azizah Ismail told
\nreporters outside the courthouse where Anwar had just been
\nconvicted of corruption.<\/p>\n
\"Our family is sad, our family is sad,\" she said, repeating
\nherself as she fought back tears, reading from a statement as
\nseveral of their six children stood by.<\/p>\n
Goodbye<\/p>\n
Azizah, an eye doctor who has become a politician in her own
\nright, pursed her lips and blinked furiously for several seconds
\nas her husband embraced her and bid her goodbye.<\/p>\n
Shops, banks and offices near the High Court closed early.
\nEmployees with handkerchiefs over their months scurried across
\nstreets strewn with stones and empty mineral water bottles.<\/p>\n
The protests tapered off in the early evening when police
\nrounded up 14 men at a mosque near the courthouse. Police said a
\ntotal 18 people were arrested.<\/p>\n
The protests were among the most intense and widespread in the
\ncapital since Anwar's arrest.<\/p>\n
\"The police have abused their power as there was no necessity
\nfor them to use force,\" Teresa Kok of the opposition Democratic
\nAction Party said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told citizens to
\naccept the High Court judge's verdict and not to riot.<\/p>\n
\"So far the situation is under control,\" Kuala Lumpur police
\nchief Kamarudin Ali said in the evening.<\/p>\n
Anwar was convicted on four corruption counts alleging he
\ndirected police in 1997 to obtain retractions from two people who
\nhad accused him of sex crimes.<\/p>\n
High Court Judge Augustine Paul, explaining his 394-page
\nruling, said Anwar had abused high political office and deserved
\nstiff punishment even though no money was involved.<\/p>\n
Reaction -- Page 12<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/anwar-verdict-sparks-clashes-and-indignation-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }