Malaysia leader dismisses Anwar's claim on poisoning

Malaysia leader dismisses Anwar's claim on poisoning

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday dismissed allegations that his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim had been poisoned as the government launched a counter-attack against the jailed ex-cabinet minister.

Anwar, who was sacked last September and sentenced in April to six years in jail for corruption, said on Friday a dangerously high level of arsenic had been found in his urine, and he accused political opponents of trying to poison him.

The charismatic ex-minister was taken to a university hospital on Friday for tests, and he remained there on Saturday. About 1,000 of his supporters took to the streets on Saturday in the biggest anti-government protest since Anwar was jailed in April.

Mahathir, in his first response to his former protege's allegations of poisoning, said political murder was not part of Malaysian culture.

"This is not part of our country's culture. No one has been murdered because of his political stand," the official Bernama news agency quoted Mahathir as saying.

Mahathir cast doubt on the validity of the urine test, conducted last month in a Melbourne laboratory, which Anwar said showed he had almost 80 times the normal level of arsenic in his urine.

Echoing remarks on Friday by the attorney-general, Mahathir said that contrary to prison rules, Anwar had been receiving food in the courthouse during his ongoing sodomy trial.

"Probably it is someone else's urine," Anwar said. "Probably he has been eating in the court house. In the prison all kinds of people give food as we give him extraordinary treatment and exemptions."

Mahathir asked why Anwar had taken two weeks to divulge the results of the urine test.

"We are surprised that it took so long for them to submit the report to the court," Mahathir said.

Cabinet ministers rallied around the 73-year-old Mahathir, who has been in power since 1981 and is Asia's longest serving elected leader.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi questioned why Anwar's lawyers waited until asking for medical treatment. "They also did not request for Datuk Seri Anwar to be treated immediately, this I don't understand. What is their motive?" he said.

Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in New Zealand, said Anwar had deliberately planned to bring up the issue during the Auckland summit to embarrass the government.

But Anwar's lawyer Karpal Singh said Anwar learned of the test results only on Wednesday.

"We confirmed everything the day before yesterday and we wanted to make sure before we said anything," he told reporters on Saturday.

"It is not a publicity stunt. We don't play with somebody's life by going on a publicity stunt. Whoever is saying that is very mischievous."