Anwar aides report brutality by police

Anwar aides report brutality by police

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Two aides of jailed politician Anwar
Ibrahim suffered skull fractures and eye injuries when police
dispersed an anti-government protest last month, an inquiry was
told on Monday.

The inquiry is the first ever held by Malaysian National Human
Rights Commission into alleged police brutality and has prompted
warnings by the government for the commissioners to tread warily.

The investigation, which began Nov. 29, drew intense public
interest on Monday when the aides to Anwar - a former deputy
prime minister whom his supporters say has been unjustly
imprisoned - testified before a panel of three commissioners.

Shaiful Khairy Kamarulzaman said that he had been escorting
Anwar's wife, Azizah Ismail, in the Nov. 5 protest when police
fired an aluminum tear-gas canister at him, opening a wound in
his forehead.

"I was hospitalized with fractures and swollen tissues in my
skull," Shaiful said.

Saeden Wateh, a helper for Anwar's family, said that
unidentified policemen twice sprayed his eyes with a chemical
while he was in custody, causing temporary blindness. He received
medical attention only 24 hours later.

"I was handcuffed to my hospital bed," Saeden said. "My
eyesight is now permanently impaired and I now have to wear
spectacles."

Saeden, 47, provided the inquiry with video clips recorded by
opposition activists of police allegedly assaulting him at the
rally.

"I was kicked in the groin and a policeman forced me to unzip
my pants before gripping my private parts, causing me pain,"
Saeden said.

The inquiry has been shrouded with controversy since the
commission said it would investigate police handling of the
protest, which was the biggest staged by the opposition this
year.

Thousands of people blocked a major expressway urging more
democracy and the release of Anwar. More than 100 people were
arrested and charged with illegal assembly, and the opposition
alleged that police used excessive force. Police deny the
allegations.

Anwar was sacked by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1998
and is serving 15 years in prison for convictions of corruption
and sodomy. Anwar says the charges were trumped up to extinguish
any possible challenge to Mahathir, who has ruled Malaysia since
1981.

Since Anwar's fall from grace, police have regularly clashed
with opposition activists who have defied batons and threats of
long jail terms to organize protests and demand Anwar's freedom
and Mahathir's ouster.

Government ministers, prosecutors and police have questioned
the legality of the inquiry. Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi has said proper procedures should be drawn up.

But on Monday, Anuar Zainal Abidin, the former federal judge
who is heading the inquiry, said it would proceed.
"All I want is for someone to come up and tell what happened. Now
what rules do you want?" Anuar said.

Though the commission has no prosecuting authority, its report
could further tarnish the reputation of the police. Anwar was
beaten in custody by the national police chief after his arrest
Sept. 20, 1998.

Two weeks ago, Anwar was taken from prison and hospitalized
with a slipped disc, which may require surgery. Doctors have yet
to determine if the ailment is due to the police beatings.

The inquiry is expected to continue off and on until February.

In another development, Mahathir on Monday accused a committee
pressing for more rights for Malaysia's ethnic Chinese minority
of extremism and harboring a communist agenda.

Mahathir was quoted by the national news agency Bernama as
telling Parliament that the committee was playing with fire
because it seeks to end affirmative-action policies that have
benefited the Malay Muslim majority for decades.