Jailed ex-deputy leader Anwar Ibrahim yesterday demanded that two of three judges assigned to hear his final appeal against a sodomy conviction step down from the case because they had shown bias against him or were too inexperienced.
The demand delayed the start of the appeal, Anwar's final chance at winning his freedom in a court battle that is now in its sixth year.
Anwar maintains the sodomy case was fabricated by political enemies shortly after his 1998 ouster as deputy prime minister to prevent him from challenging then-leader Mahathir Mohamad -- a charge the government denied although the US consider Anwar a political prisoner.
Anwar was arrested after Mahathir released lurid details of alleged homosexual trysts between Anwar and his driver. Anwar was convicted at separate trials for corruption and sodomy -- a crime in mostly Muslim Malaysia -- and sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison. He has served the corruption sentence.
Anwar yesterday joked with supporters and chatted with his wife, opposition leader Azizah Ismail, before telling reporters he expected to lose the appeal because the judges would not give him a fair hearing.
"This is a facade of judicial independence," Anwar said. "It's a forgone conclusion. You can see it in the demeanor of the judges."
The three-judge panel in the Federal Court is deciding whether Anwar's sodomy trial was flawed -- as many rights groups and international observers believe. Anwar is also asking to be released on bail while the hearing proceeds.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
HOPEFUL FOR PEACE: Zelenskiy said that the war would ‘end sooner’ with Trump and that Ukraine must do all it can to ensure the fighting ends next year Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom early yesterday suspended gas deliveries via Ukraine, Vienna-based utility OMV said, in a development that signals a fast-approaching end of Moscow’s last gas flows to Europe. Russia’s oldest gas-export route to Europe, a pipeline dating back to Soviet days via Ukraine, is set to shut at the end of this year. Ukraine has said it would not extend the transit agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom to deprive Russia of profits that Kyiv says help to finance the war against it. Moscow’s suspension of gas for Austria, the main receiver of gas via Ukraine, means Russia now only
‘HARD-HEADED’: Some people did not evacuate to protect their property or because they were skeptical of the warnings, a disaster agency official said Typhoon Man-yi yesterday slammed into the Philippines’ most populous island, with the national weather service warning of flooding, landslides and huge waves as the storm sweeps across the archipelago nation. Man-yi was still packing maximum sustained winds of 185kph after making its first landfall late on Saturday on lightly populated Catanduanes island. More than 1.2 million people fled their homes ahead of Man-yi as the weather forecaster warned of a “life-threatening” effect from the powerful storm, which follows an unusual streak of violent weather. Man-yi uprooted trees, brought down power lines and smashed flimsy houses to pieces after hitting Catanduanes in the typhoon-prone
RSS