KL court quashes jail sentence on Anwar's lawyer
KL court quashes jail sentence on Anwar's lawyer
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's highest court on Wednesday unanimously threw out a contempt of court conviction and a prison sentence imposed on a lawyer for jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
A packed public gallery gave three federal court judges a round of applause as they quashed the conviction and three-month sentence passed on Zainur Zakaria by high court judge Augustine Paul.
"I thank the Almighty for the outcome and I'm very happy," Zainur said.
"We have always maintained that a lawyer acting for a client must do so without fear or favor within the bounds of the law," he told AFP.
It was the third court decision in two months in favor of Anwar's supporters or of the opposition in general.
Paul sentenced Zainur in November 1998 during Anwar's first trial for abuse of power, after the lawyer filed an affidavit on his client's behalf to disqualify two government prosecutors.
The defense said the prosecutors had threatened a witness to make him give false evidence of sex crimes against ex-deputy premier Anwar, who was once the heir apparent to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
In September last year the appeal court had rejected Zainur's appeal, saying he "adamantly and arrogantly" refused to apologize for the offense.
But the federal court judges said Zainur had no need to apologize for doing his job by representing his client.
Zainur, 52, was free on bail pending his final appeal.
Lim Kit Siang of the opposition Democratic Action Party called Wednesday's decision "another important building block to restore confidence in the judiciary."
Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, who took office as chief justice in December, said restoring confidence was his main task.
Anwar's affidavit had been supported by a statutory declaration from lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon.
Manjeet's declaration said the prosecutors had threatened his client, N. Nallakaruppan, to induce him to make up evidence against Anwar.
Nallakaruppan is a former acquaintance and tennis partner of Anwar. At the time Nallakaruppan was accused of a firearms offense which could have been punishable by death.
Anwar's trial for abuse of power ended in April 1999 with a conviction and a six-year jail sentence. In August last year he was jailed for a further nine years for sodomy, with the sentences to run consecutively.
Anwar says his former mentor Mahathir orchestrated a conspiracy to frame him because he was seen as a political threat. The government denies any plot.
Zainur is the second of Anwar's lawyers to face prosecution over actions in court. Karpal Singh has been charged with sedition over remarks he made in court alleging a possible high- level plot to murder his client.
On May 30 a high court ordered the release of two of Anwar's supporters who had been held under the Internal Security Act.
Earlier this month a high court judge in the eastern state of Sabah disqualified a government candidate in 1999 state elections, ruling that the seat was won fraudulently.
In another development, Families of six opposition supporters who have been jailed without trial under a tough Malaysian security law appealed to the United Nations on Wednesday to help secure their release.
About 30 family members and rights group members gathered outside the UN office here to hand in some 10,000 postcards addressed to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson.
The postcards called for the abolition of the Internal Security Act (ISA), a successor to British colonial-era legislation which was passed almost half a century ago to combat a communist insurgency.
Bahirah Tajul Aris, wife of Mohamad Ezam Mohamad Noor, said the detentions served the political goals of the prime minister and had nothing to do with national security.