Anwar's back injury worsens as court appeal postponed

Anwar's back injury worsens as court appeal postponed

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur

Jailed Malaysian rebel politician Anwar Ibrahim has sustained a worsening of a spinal injury as he faces another delay in his final appeal against a sodomy conviction, his wife said on Tuesday.

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said a medical team that examined her husband on Monday found his spinal condition had deteriorated and threatened to impair his kidneys.

Anwar has been in prison since falling out with then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1998, when his arrest on abuse of power and sodomy charges sparked street protests and calls for political reform.

"There was a consensus that his condition has deteriorated," Wan Azizah told a news conference held with a variety of local human rights groups campaigning for Anwar to be freed and allowed to travel overseas for back surgery.

The government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who took over from Mahathir last October, has said Anwar should be treated in Malaysia, an option rejected by the family.

"The government's contention is that we have whatever specialists available locally. If you don't want your surgery to be conducted by a local surgeon, why can't you bring your surgeon here?" said a government spokesman, who asked not to be identified.

Wan Azizah, a physician herself, said the family was adamant about seeking surgery in Germany and appealed directly to Abdullah, whose wife is undergoing breast cancer treatment in the United States.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's top court has postponed indefinitely its verdict on a sodomy appeal by Anwar, who has been hospitalized since last week, his counsel said on Tuesday.

"The court has taken off Anwar's case on July 22. It did not fix a new date," Sankara Nair told AFP, adding that the Federal Court did not give any reason for the move.

In a separate development, an international human rights group on Tuesday urged the leaders of the United States, France and Britain to press visiting Abdullah to end detention without trial.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said that since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks "the U.S. and other Western governments turned a blind eye to Malaysias abuses" under the feared Internal Security Act (ISA).

Abdullah held talks with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington on Monday and goes on to meet French President Jacques Chirac on Wednesday and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday.

Human Rights Watch said the U.S. government, "formerly a vocal critic" of Malaysia's use of detention without trial, now praised the country for its support in the so-called "war on terror."

Washington's silence on detentions "demonstrates a reluctance to criticize practices similar to those used by the United States," the statement said, referring to terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay and the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal in Iraq.

Related photo on Page 11