A prominent political analyst with close ties to Malaysia's ruling party pleaded innocent yesterday to the charge of abetting the murder of a Mongolian woman, whose body was reportedly blown up by explosives.
Abdul Razak Baginda, 46, took the plea at the Kuala Lumpur High Court and demanded a trial, which will begin on Dec. 14 in Shah Alam, the state capital of neighboring Selangor State where the murder was allegedly committed last month.
If found guilty, Abdul Razak faces the death penalty. Two policemen have separately been charged with murdering the woman, Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old model, teacher and translator.
PHOTO: AP
The two -- Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Constable Sirul Azhar Umar -- are part of an elite unit tasked with VIP protection, and both also face the death penalty if convicted. They have not entered a plea yet.
The case has gripped the nation and whipped up media a frenzy unseen in recent times because of the involvement of Abdul Razak, who runs a think tank and is known to be close to the ruling party, as well as Malaysia's deputy prime minister.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has pledged a thorough investigation, while the country's police chief promised there would be no cover up.
The local press has reported Abdul Razak had an affair two years ago with Shaariibuu, but his lawyer has insisted there was no romantic relationship.
According to prosecutors he conspired with Azilah and Sirul on Oct. 18 to kill Shaariibuu sometime between the night of Oct. 19 and early Oct. 20.
Prosecutors have not said how Abdul Razak knew the policemen or what their motive was in killing Shaariibuu.
Police DNA tests have confirmed that human remains found in a jungle clearing outside Kuala Lumpur earlier this month were Shaariibuu's. The local press has reported she was shot twice and her body blown up with explosives.
Police have released few other details of the case. Mongolia's honorary consul to Malaysia, Abdul Rahman Alhabshi, has said Shaariibuu came to Malaysia last month, but hasn't said why.
The Star newspaper reported on Wednesday that Shaariibuu was married twice to Mongolian celebrities and had two children.
It said she trained as a model but never worked professionally.
Abdul Razak is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Leaders for Tomorrow, and of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
SUPPORT: Elon Musk’s backing for the far-right AfD is also an implicit rebuke of center-right Christian Democratic Union leader Friedrich Merz, who is leading polls German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took a swipe at Elon Musk over his political judgement, escalating a spat between the German government and the world’s richest person. Scholz, speaking to reporters in Berlin on Friday, was asked about a post Musk made on his X platform earlier the same day asserting that only the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party “can save Germany.” “We have freedom of speech, and that also applies to multi-billionaires,” Scholz said alongside Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal. “But freedom of speech also means that you can say things that are not right and do not contain
Pulled from the mud as an infant after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and reunited with his parents following an emotional court battle, the boy once known as “Baby 81” is now a 20-year-old dreaming of higher education. Jayarasa Abilash’s story symbolized that of the families torn apart by one of the worst natural calamities in modern history, but it also offered hope. More than 35,000 people in Sri Lanka were killed, with others missing. The two-month-old was washed away by the tsunami in eastern Sri Lanka and found some distance from home by rescuers. At the hospital, he was
Two US Navy pilots were shot down yesterday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the US military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of US targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Both pilots were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one sustaining minor injuries. However, the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become over the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite US and European military coalitions patrolling the area. The US military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the
MILITANTS TARGETED: The US said its forces had killed an IS leader in Deir Ezzor, as it increased its activities in the region following al-Assad’s overthrow Washington is scrapping a long-standing reward for the arrest of Syria’s new leader, a senior US diplomat said on Friday following “positive messages” from a first meeting that included a promise to fight terrorism. Barbara Leaf, Washington’s top diplomat for the Middle East, made the comments after her meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus — the first formal mission to Syria’s capital by US diplomats since the early days of Syria’s civil war. The lightning offensive that toppled former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8 was led by the Muslim Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in al-Qaeda’s
RSS