Anwar’s final verdict under watchful eye of IPU
IPU concerned about the rushed manner in which final hearings were conducted and organised.
(Free Malaysia Today) – The Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) welcomes the decision by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to send an international observer to the Federal Court on February 10 for the outcome of Anwar Ibrahim’s final appeal against the Sodomy II conviction, according to a statement by Alor Setar MP Gooi Hsiao Leung who heads the party’s International Bureau.
PKR greatly appreciates IPU’s decision to send the international observer to closely monitor Anwar’s case, he reiterated in the statement, and “the deep concerns shown by it on the outcome of Anwar’s case, especially on the future of the opposition in the country in the event that his conviction was upheld”.
He noted that the IPU’s decision was made at a meeting of its Committee of Human Rights on Parliamentarians held two days ago after reviewing the case.
The IPU after reviewing the facts, had noted that the sodomy charges have “been widely criticized as a bid to derail his (Anwar’s) political career” and raised serious concerns, according to Gooi.
For starters, the IPU was concerned about the rushed manner in which the final hearings were conducted and organized before the Court of Appeal, the apparent ease with which the main arguments presented by the defence, in particular concerning the integrity of the DNA samples, were dismissed, and the fact that the same law, although never or rarely invoked in Malaysia, has been invoked twice against Anwar Ibrahim.
