Malaysia's Anwar suffers setback in sodomy trial

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim suffered another setback Friday in his sodomy trial after the judge rejected his bid to obtain medical evidence he said was crucial to prove his innocence. The defense was seeking clinical notes, reports and specimens collected by three government doctors who examined Saiful Bukhari Azlan, a male former aid whose sodomy accusations have been dismissed by Anwar as a government plot to thwart his opposition movement. High Court Judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohamad Diah ruled there was no legal basis for the evidence, collected two days after the alleged act in June 2008, to be supplied to the defense, according to defense lawyer Sankara Nair. The defense said the evidence was crucial in cross-examining one of the doctors. "It is a severe handicap for us in cross-examining the witness," Nair said of the ruling. Sodomy is punishable by up to 20 years in prison in this Muslim-majority country, under a law that criminalizes both nonconsensual and consensual anal sex. Nair said the defense will file an application next week to challenge the judge's decision in the Appeals Court. The trial is set to resume July 14 pending the appeal, he added. It is the second time Anwar, a 62-year-old former deputy prime minister, has been accused of sodomy. A decade ago, he was imprisoned on convictions of sodomy and corruption and spent six years in jail before the sodomy conviction was overturned. Anwar maintains all charges against him have been fabricated to end his political career. Prime Minister Najib Razak has denied conspiring against Anwar. — AP