Anwar can view evidence

MALAYSIAN opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday was given access to key evidence in his sodomy trial which his lawyers described as a 'political conspiracy' to jail him.

The judge's ruling will allow the defence to see evidence ranging from a rectal examination of a 23-year-old former aide, who says that Mr Anwar sodomised him, to CCTV footage. The only evidence they will not get is DNA samples, which are sealed.

'I would say that we are glad with this particular judgment but we have to go through the process. Because of past experience we cannot be too presumptive,' Mr Anwar, 61, told journalists.

Anwar's three-party bloc has mounted the biggest ever challenge to the government that has ruled this Southeast Asian country for 51 years.

The trial echoes a case brought in 1998 at the height of the Asian financial crisis when he was deputy prime minister. He was found guilty of corruption and sodomy after a 14-month trial and jailed for six years.

The new trial comes as Anwar is battling to contain infighting in his fractious coalition, which came close to losing a safe seat in a state by-election on Tuesday.

Anwar's sodomy conviction was overturned in 2004 and he has since returned to parliament to head the opposition alliance of Islamists, a mainly ethnic Chinese party and reformers. Anwar faces up to 20 years in jail if found guilty.

'(I am) Crushed, but I respect the judge's decision,' the complainant, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, wrote on Twitter after the ruling.

Attempts by the prosecution to block access to evidence were earlier labelled by Anwar's defence lawyer, Sivarasa Rasiah, as evidence of 'an active political conspiracy'.

The conduct of the case, after widespread international criticism last time round, is key to the image of Malaysia's judiciary and several foreign embassies are attending the trial. — REUTERS