Malaysian judge issues gag order in Anwar trial

Malaysian judge issues gag order in Anwar trial

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): The judge in the criminal trial of
Malaysia's sacked finance minister Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday
ordered the media not to report court testimony by Anwar about
the prime minister and the former police chief.

Judge Augustine Paul, delivering the second blow to Anwar in
as many days, said testimony that Anwar had given earlier in the
day about Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and former Inspector-
General of Police (IGP) Abdul Rahim Noor was inadmissible.

Augustine also barred the media from reporting Anwar's
statements about the two men.

"I will instruct the press not to publish all this unless it
is proven," Augustine told the court when the trial resumed
following a lunch break.

On Wednesday morning, his third day of testimony in his
corruption trial, Anwar spoke at length about conversations he
had had with Mahathir and the former police chief before he was
sacked and arrested.

"Pending proof of these statements, there is to be no
publication of the statements made by the two persons (Mahathir
and Rahim) to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim," the judge said.

"If you cannot assure me that you are going to call the IGP
and the PM, I have to rule that what you told me, I have to rule
it inadmissible," Augustine told the defense.

It was the second time during the three-month-old trial that
the judge had ordered the media to withhold publication of
testimony already given in court.

In December, he instructed the media not to print excerpts of
an audio tape recording which a defense lawyer said proved a
conspiracy to oust Anwar, who was sacked and arrested in
September, sparking unprecedented anti-government protests.

After the trial adjourned for the day on Wednesday, one of the
defense lawyers approached reporters in the press gallery and
shouted: "You guys have nothing to report today. Sorry."

The judge's decision to bar Anwar's testimony relating to
Mahathir and the former police chief came a day after he ruled
out the defense's argument that the former cabinet minister was a
victim of a political conspiracy.

Anwar has pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of sodomy and
corruption, and said he was the victim of a conspiracy by
associates of Mahathir determined to ruin his political career
and prevent him from exposing corruption.

After he dismissed Anwar in September, Mahathir called his
former heir-apparent morally unfit.

The judge ruled last month that weeks of testimony by
prosecution witnesses alleging sex crimes by Anwar was
irrelevant. He made his ruling as the prosecution closed its case
and before the defense could call its first witness.

Unable to address the sex allegations or to argue a political
conspiracy, Anwar on Wednesday ended his testimony under defense
questioning. The prosecution was set to cross-examine him on
Thursday.

On Wednesday, Anwar denied allegations that he had abused his
power as finance minister and deputy prime minister (DPM) in 1997
by directing police to obtain retractions from two people who had
accused him of sex crimes.

"I, as minister of finance and as DPM, did not use my office
or position in relation to the investigations" into the
allegations, Anwar said.