Officer testifies he heard Anwar screaming

Officer testifies he heard Anwar screaming

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): A Malaysian police officer on Monday said he heard a groan from sacked finance minister Anwar Ibrahim's detention cell in September after the then police chief and another senior officer entered the room.

Senior police officer Koh Hong Sun told the royal commission investigating injuries Anwar sustained after his arrest that former Inspector-General of Police Abdul Rahim Noor and Criminal Investigation Department head Yaacob Mohamad Amin were alone in Anwar's cell at the time.

Koh was the officer who arrested Anwar on September 20 and accompanied him to federal police headquarters in the capital, where he was placed in a detention cell.

"I was waiting for further instruction... I saw Tan Sri Abdul Rahim, the then IGP, and Datuk Yaacob come into the lockup," Koh told the commission on its first day of public hearings.

"I heard a groan after that," said Koh, speaking in Malay. He said Abdul Rahim and Yaacob were alone in the cell.

Koh said that after the police chief and the CID director had left, he went to the door of Anwar's cell and saw someone nursing an injury on the left side of Anwar's forehead.

Anwar appeared in court in September with a black eye and injuries to his neck and hand that he said he sustained in police custody. The royal commission's chief investigator Abu Talib Othman said on Monday that Anwar was assaulted by a senior police officer.

The commission, set up under the Commission of Inquiry Act, is empowered to subpoena witnesses, report to Malaysia's king and propose appropriate action.

Anwar and Abdul Rahim were represented by lawyers. The Malaysian Bar Council was an observer.

Another witness, also a police officer, told the hearings that he was scolded by Yaacob after he saw Anwar being led to the cell without handcuffs. "Treat him like an ordinary criminal," Sharifuddin Abdul Ghani quoted Yaacob as saying.

A third witness named Yap Khian Wai, also a police officer, said it was Abdul Rahim who ordered Anwar be blindfolded. The former police chief's lawyer, Teck Toh Peik (corrects), denied this.

Koh said he saw Anwar again in the cell about three hours later to serve him with an amended arrest notice.

"He was conscious. I spoke to him and he responded rationally to whatever I said.

"There was no black eye, just a swelling about an inch (two cm) in size. There was no bleeding from the nose, mouth or eyes," he said to a question from Yeoh Poh Hong, a medical doctor who is part of the three-member commission.

No complain

Koh said Anwar did not complain about the injuries to him or ask for a medical assistance. Koh said he did not report the incident to anyone.

He said Anwar asked him if his daughters, who had earlier accompanied him to the police headquarters, had left.

A commission member chided Koh, one of five witnesses on the opening day, when he said he could not recall vividly his first meeting with Anwar in the cell. "Was your shock so severe it affected your memory?" asked former judge Mahadev Shankar.

The commission visited the detention cell at police headquarters on Monday afternoon.

Koh said he had been instructed to arrest Anwar under section 377(b) of the code, relating to sodomy. But he said he erroneously cited section 377(d) when arresting him. He did not elaborate on that section of the code.

Koh said that later that night his superiors decided to charge Anwar under the Internal Security Act, which allows indefinite detention without trial. He said no reasons were given.