Former AG wants Anwar case lawyer booted out
Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail should not condone criticisms of convicted people.
(Free Malaysia Today) – Former Attorney General, Abu Talib Othman, has called for lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s deputy public prosecutor’s licence to be revoked following his continued attacks on Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim after the latter’s incarceration on a sodomy charge.
Shafee’s defensive remarks, in the wake of the Tuesday 10 February decision by the Federal Court, are inappropriate, and also lend credence to the perception that Anwar’s case was politically-motivated, said Taib, in remarks attributed to him by the Malaysian Insider.
Talib, the attorney-general from 1980 to 1993, said Anwar’s Appeal had closed on February 10 “and any further remarks were inappropriate and unnecessary”.
“The time has come for Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail to revoke the appointment of Shafee as further comments will not be necessary,” said Talib. “Such comments give credence to the perception that Anwar was prosecuted for political reasons.”
His remarks followed Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo asking Gani on Sunday if he condoned criticisms of convicted people. Gobind, the DAP’s legal bureau chairman, said Shafee’s continuing attacks on Anwar was embarrassing and shameful to the Attorney General’s office.
Shafee had been quoted as saying in the New Straits Times on Friday that if Anwar had taken the stand, the torrent of questions would have been so unrelenting that Anwar would have “fainted in the witness box”.
