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