Anwar's brother says was forced to frame him

Anwar's brother says was forced to frame him

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Lawyers for sacked Malaysian finance minister Anwar Ibrahim read at his trial on Wednesday a letter quoting his adopted brother saying he was tortured by police into lying that Anwar sodomized him.

Prosecutors, upset with the allegations leveled by the defense, promised to retaliate, possibly with videotapes, to prove Sukma Dermawan had confessed voluntarily.

Defense lawyer Christopher Fernando read out Sukma's letter to the capital's High Court on the 28th day of Anwar's corruption and sex trial, asking a police officer whether Sukma was forced to frame Anwar.

Sukma and a Pakistani friend of Anwar, Munawar Anees, were each sentenced to six months in jail in September after pleading guilty to letting Anwar sodomize them. The two have since retracted the pleas, saying police forced them into it.

Fernando directed his questions at Musa Hassan, a senior police officer who headed the investigations against Anwar and led the interrogation on Sukma.

"Sukma says in this letter that he was stripped naked and photographed," the lawyer said, producing the letter to Musa, who was the prosecution's 13th witness.

"He says the police took three bottles of blood from him and hair from all over his body. He says they also did an anal test on him that hurt a lot," Fernando said, quoting the letter. "Not true," Musa said.

Fernando then asked Musa if he and his men had threatened Sukma with detention under Malaysia's draconian Internal Security Act, which allows authorities to hold a person indefinitely without trial.

He also asked whether the police had told Sukma they would plant bullets in his house and car and charge him with illegal possession of ammunition -- a capital offense in Malaysia -- if he did not cooperate in framing Anwar. Musa denied the allegations.

Anwar faces five charges each of sodomy and corruption. In the first part of his trial, the court is examining four corruption charges -- specifically, that he abused his powers to force police to cover up sodomy and adultery accusations that his ex- driver and a woman made against him in 1997.

Judge Augustine Paul, irritated with Fernando for harping on a letter which he ruled irrelevant to the corruption charges, disallowed further questions from the lawyer. He welcomed the prosecution when it said it might produce videotapes to rebut the charges.

"Yes, let them see for themselves," Augustine said and adjourned hearing for the day.

Legal sources said the videotapes may contain Sukma's confession to police, which the prosecution would try to prove was voluntary.

Earlier on Wednesday, the court heard that investigations had opened against Anwar after a split emerged between him and Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at their party's annual meeting.

The timing of the probe could prove important to the defense, which is arguing that the former prime-minister-in-waiting was a victim of a political conspiracy by Mahathir's friends.

The June meeting of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) was dominated by a bitter debate over cronyism and corruption that pitted Anwar's supporters against Mahathir's camp.

Mahathir deflected criticism of his 17-year rule by releasing documents listing the names of hundreds of Malays, including Anwar's relatives, who had won government contracts or received shares allocated by the government.

Musa said investigations into allegations of sodomy and adultery by Anwar first surfaced in 1997 after the ex-driver and the woman made the accusations.

But the case was closed in August that year, he said. It had reopened on June 22, the day after the UMNO meeting.