| The mystery of Nalla's totally out of proportion death sentence
charge under the ISA for the minor crime of unlawful possesion of bullets has been
revealed. Fortunately Nalla is a man of great courage and moral strength. He was tortured
by the SB and they got nothing out of him. Now this dirty tactic will also fail. Anwar seeks to eject prosecutors as British PM sends letter of concern by M.Jegathesan KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 (AFP) - Ousted Malaysian deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim sought Saturday to eject two chief prosecutors from his corruption trial as his wife disclosed that British Prime Minister Tony Blair sent their family a letter of concern. Anwar's wife Azizah told a news conference at her home Saturday that she had received a letter from Blair expressing concern for their family. "You are in our mind," she quoted the letter as saying, but declined to read further or give details about the message, which she received Thursday. In a 40-page affidavit filed Saturday at the high court, Anwar called for senior deputy public prosecutor Abdul Gani Patail and Azahar Mohamed to be "prevented or prohibited or discharged from further prosecuting in this case." Anwar alleged the two "abused their position as officers of the attorney-general's chambers and as prosecutors in my trial" by "going out of their way to get Nallakaruppan to fabricate evidence" against Anwar "for other alleged sexual offences." Businessman Solaimalai Nallakaruppan, better known as Nalla, was Anwar's one-time tennis partner and has been charged under Internal Security Act with unlawful possession of bullets, which carries a mandatory death sentence. He was detained in July after police found the ammunition in his safe when they raided his home as part of an investigation into sexual allegations against Anwar, contained in a book. In his affidavit, Anwar said Gani had met with Nalla's lawyers Manjeet Singh Dillion and Balwant Singh Sidhu on October 2 to negotiate a plea bargain. Gani indicated "he would consider the request (for a lesser charge) if Nalla was prepared to cooperate with the attorney-general's chambers by falsely implicating me in the commission of sexual offences with various married and unmarried women," Anwar said. Gani's colleague Azahar subsequently made a similar demand to Manjeet, he added. "Having shown themselves to be highly unprofessional in the performance of their duties and to be personally interested to secure my conviction by questionable means, their involvement in my trial herein has already raised grave doubts as to the integrity of the evidence which has so far been adduced by the prosecution," Anwar said. He said allowing them to continue prosecuting him "will result in a travesty of justice." Attached to Anwar's affidavit Saturday was a letter written by Manjeet to attorney-general Mohtar Abdullah on 12 October, expressing shock at Gani's suggestion. "A man's life or for that matter his freedom is not a tool for a prosecution agency to use as a bargaining chip," it said, describing the alleged attempt as "blackmail and extortion of the highest culpability." Defence lawyers had earlier alleged "bad faith" by the attorney-general in charging Nalla under the ISA and sought to put Manjeet and Gani in the witness stand. But the court later postponed the hearing to January 25. Anwar's wife Azizah again hit out at police crackdowns on pro-reform protests by Anwar supporters. "You can't blame the supporters of the reform movement. They are not creating riots in the country," she said Saturday. "We are not trying to create instability. We want freedom of speech. We do not want a police state," she said. "The situation becomes chaotic when excessive force is used on the protestors." The mother of six alleged there were still five people detained under the draconian ISA, which provides for detention without trial. Malaysia has been rocked by regular protests following Anwar's arrest, although protests have recently been more subdued. The opposition Malaysian People's Justice Movement (Gerak) launched Saturday a "back-to-the-village" campaign to spread news of Anwar's trial to villagers using pamphlets, audio and video cassettes. Anwar faces 10 corruption and sexual charges, all of which he has denied. His trial on four of the corruption charges started on November 2 and he faces up to 14 years' jail if convicted. |