Malaysia leader dismisses Anwar's claim on poisoning<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
\nMohamad on Saturday dismissed allegations that his former deputy
\nAnwar Ibrahim had been poisoned as the government launched a
\ncounter-attack against the jailed ex-cabinet minister.<\/p>\n
Anwar, who was sacked last September and sentenced in April to
\nsix years in jail for corruption, said on Friday a dangerously
\nhigh level of arsenic had been found in his urine, and he accused
\npolitical opponents of trying to poison him.<\/p>\n
The charismatic ex-minister was taken to a university hospital
\non Friday for tests, and he remained there on Saturday. About
\n1,000 of his supporters took to the streets on Saturday in the
\nbiggest anti-government protest since Anwar was jailed in April.<\/p>\n
Mahathir, in his first response to his former protege's
\nallegations of poisoning, said political murder was not part of
\nMalaysian culture.<\/p>\n
\"This is not part of our country's culture. No one has been
\nmurdered because of his political stand,\" the official Bernama
\nnews agency quoted Mahathir as saying.<\/p>\n
Mahathir cast doubt on the validity of the urine test,
\nconducted last month in a Melbourne laboratory, which Anwar said
\nshowed he had almost 80 times the normal level of arsenic in his
\nurine.<\/p>\n
Echoing remarks on Friday by the attorney-general, Mahathir
\nsaid that contrary to prison rules, Anwar had been receiving food
\nin the courthouse during his ongoing sodomy trial.<\/p>\n
\"Probably it is someone else's urine,\" Anwar said. \"Probably
\nhe has been eating in the court house. In the prison all kinds of
\npeople give food as we give him extraordinary treatment and
\nexemptions.\"<\/p>\n
Mahathir asked why Anwar had taken two weeks to divulge the
\nresults of the urine test.<\/p>\n
\"We are surprised that it took so long for them to submit the
\nreport to the court,\" Mahathir said.<\/p>\n
Cabinet ministers rallied around the 73-year-old Mahathir, who
\nhas been in power since 1981 and is Asia's longest serving
\nelected leader.<\/p>\n
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi questioned why
\nAnwar's lawyers waited until asking for medical treatment. \"They
\nalso did not request for Datuk Seri Anwar to be treated
\nimmediately, this I don't understand. What is their motive?\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz, speaking on the sidelines of a
\nmeeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in New Zealand, said Anwar had
\ndeliberately planned to bring up the issue during the Auckland
\nsummit to embarrass the government.<\/p>\n
But Anwar's lawyer Karpal Singh said Anwar learned of the test
\nresults only on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\"We confirmed everything the day before yesterday and we
\nwanted to make sure before we said anything,\" he told reporters
\non Saturday.<\/p>\n
\"It is not a publicity stunt. We don't play with somebody's
\nlife by going on a publicity stunt. Whoever is saying that is
\nvery mischievous.\"<\/p>",
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