Anwar celebrates birthday in prison as protests grow
Anwar celebrates birthday in prison as protests grow
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysia's ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim spent his 53rd birthday in a cell on Thursday and faces at least another eight birthdays behind bars, despite international and local outrage over his jailing.
The man once tipped as the next prime minister was Tuesday convicted of sodomy after a 14-month trial and jailed for nine years.
The new sentence starts at the end of a six-year jail term imposed in April 1999 for abuse of official powers and could keep him locked up until 2014. With customary remission he could be out in 2009.
Anwar was due to sign his notice of appeal against conviction and sentence, defense lawyer Sankara Nair said on Thursday. A previous appeal against his earlier conviction was rejected.
U.S. Vice President Al Gore launched the latest broadside over the verdict, branding the "show trial" a mockery of justice.
"I am deeply disturbed by the verdicts handed down in Malaysia in the case of (ex) Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his adopted brother," the presidential candidate said in a strongly- worded statement on Wednesday.
"The show trial the two men were forced to endure mocked international standards of justice," said Gore, who enraged Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in November 1998 by praising Anwar's "brave" supporters.
"These verdicts are politically motivated and designed to remove Anwar from the political arena indefinitely," Gore added. Anwar will be banned from standing for elections for five years from his release date.
He says Mahathir orchestrated a conspiracy to frame him because he intended to expose corruption and because the premier saw him as a political threat.
Mahathir, in his first comments Wednesday on the case, denied any conspiracy and said his former protege got a fair trial. "It is a normal trial, there is no conspiracy. It is impossible in Malaysia to have a conspiracy on such an extent involving literally hundreds of people," the premier said.
"He (Anwar) is the one who is involved in some conspiracy to try and promote himself to be the prime minister sooner that it was thought possible."
Canada said on Thursday it summoned Malaysia's ambassador to register its "deep concern" over the conviction of former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim on a sodomy charge.
"We have called in the Malaysian High Commissioner today to register our consternation directly with governmental authorities over Mr Anwar's trial and sentencing," Canada's foreign ministry said in a statement quoting Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy.
The statement, dated August 9 and from Ottawa, was issued by Canada's high commission (embassy) in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Criticism of Malaysia has poured in since a judge on Tuesday found Anwar guilty of sodomy and sentenced him to nine years in jail. That sentence will start once he finishes a six-year jail term that began in April 1999 for an earlier corruption conviction.
Malaysian newspapers on Thursday devoted little space to the international outcry over Anwar's conviction.
The New Straits Times, owned by interests close to Mahathir's political party, ran a story on page two headlined Philippine, Thai leaders decline comments.
The story said Manila and Bangkok had adhered to the principle of noninterference by saying the trial was Malaysia's internal affair.
Canada also strongly condemned the verdict and sentence. Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy expressed "deep concern" over the convictions of Anwar and his adopted brother Sukma Darmawan. Sukma was sentence to six years plus four strokes of the cane but bailed pending an appeal.
"The convictions are a result of a trial held in Kuala Lumpur that Canada believes was seriously flawed," Axworthy said. He added: "Canada is concerned over the deterioration of the independence of Malaysia's judicial system."
Local rights groups, the Bar Council and opposition parties voiced strong concern. But Anwar's former friends in neighboring Southeast Asian countries have stayed silent.
The Free Anwar Campaign launched over the Internet (www.freeanwar.com) said Anwar would spend Thursday -- his 690th day in detention -- in solitary confinement.
In a statement it said the world "looks at Anwar as a political detainee, innocent of the crimes charged, his only offense being opposing the abuse of power and tyranny by the powers-that-be."
The campaign added: "Anwar may have lost the legal battle. But this is no shame when the battlefield was not level anyway. "If at all, it has made Mahathir look more the despot that he is. And this will enable Anwar to eventually win the war."