Anwar's daughter seeks support in U.S.

Anwar's daughter seeks support in U.S.

USA: As Malaysia's ex-deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim grimaces in pain in prison, his daughter Nurul Izzah is in the United States lobbying for support to have him travel to Germany for critical back surgery.

The determined 23-year-old Nurul has met officials at the White House, the State Department and Congress as well as human rights groups, asking them to prod the Malaysian government to allow Anwar to seek treatment abroad.

Anwar, regarded as a political prisoner by the United States and "prisoner of conscience" by rights group Amnesty International, was rushed to hospital from prison this month due to complications from a damaged spinal disc, which he said was caused by a police beating after his arrest in 1998.

"I'm not here to politicize or be confrontational about my father's problem, but the fact is his life is at stake," Nurul told AFP. "He is really in a lot of pain and so weak, it is so heartbreaking seeing him." --AFP