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.