Judge recused from Anwar’s Sodomy II appeal
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and wife Datuk Seri Wan Azizah arrive for the hearing of the government’s appeal against Anwar’s acquittal in the Sodomy II case at the Court of Appeal
The case has been adjourned to tomorrow, when a new judge will replace Maimun on the Bench and decide on another earlier application by Anwar’s lawyers to recuse prominent lawyer Datuk Seri Mohamed Shafee Abdullah from representing the government in its appeal.
Joseph Sipalan, The Malay Mail
PUTRAJAYA, Sept 17 — The Court of Appeal today recused one of the three judges presiding over the government’s appeal against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal in his second sodomy trial.
The three-member bench, chaired by Datuk Ramly Ali, allowed the application by Anwar’s lawyers to recuse Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat on grounds that she would be biased in her judgment.
Anwar’s lead counsel, Karpal Singh said it was in the interest of the court to recuse Maimun as she had previously presided over and struck out the opposition leader’s defamation suit against ex-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed in the High Court in 2007.
Karpal argued that Maimun had at that time adopted the 2004 majority decision by a Federal Court that ruled to acquit Anwar of the then-deputy prime minister’s first sodomy charge in the late 1990.
But then-Chief Justice Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad, who chaired the Bench then, had taken note of evidence of Anwar’s “homosexual tendencies”.
“By adopting the judgment, she is bound by it and that would make her biased as a member of the quorum,” Karpal later told reporters outside the courtroom, referring to Maimun, after the appellate court decided to recuse her from the Bench.
“The court would also have to deal with the public perception that if she sits on the panel, she would be biased and public perception will be against her sitting on the panel,” the lawyer added.
The case has been adjourned to tomorrow, when a new judge will replace Maimun on the Bench and decide on another earlier application by Anwar’s lawyers to recuse prominent lawyer Datuk Seri Mohamed Shafee Abdullah from representing the government in its appeal.
It was earlier reported that Shafee’s appointment was made under Section 376(c) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows the public prosecutor to appoint “proper persons” to be deputy public prosecutors under his control and to exercise all rights and powers vested by the prosecutor.
Anwar claimed in his application that the Attorney-General’s Chambers should be able to find another lawyer to represent the prosecution, as Shafee had been involved in previous cases against him.
Ramly indicated the Court of Appeal would likely set a later date to hear the appeal after deciding on Shafee’s position as the judges did not think there would be enough time to hear all submissions on the same day.
