Federal Court Rules Anwar Sodomised Mohd Saiful

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 10 (Bernama) -- The Federal Court here Tuesday ruled that Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim sodomised his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, and thus upheld the conviction and five-year jail term imposed on the politician by the Court of Appeal. Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria, who led a five-member panel, said the unsworn statement by the appellant (Anwar), which evidentially carried little weight, and the evidence adduced through his witnesses failed to cast any reasonable doubt on the prosecution's case. "We (the panel) are thus convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the first prosecution witness (Mohd Saiful) had been sodomised by the appellant (Anwar) as charged," said Justice Arifin, reading out a 54-page summary judgment. He said the panel also agreed with the Court of Appeal that Anwar had not created any reasonable doubt on the prosecution's case and, therefore, the prosecution had established its case beyond reasonable doubt. "The appeal against the conviction is dismissed. Accordingly, we affirm the decision of the Court of Appeal in convicting the appellant (Anwar)," he said. Justice Arifin said scientific evidence (medical and DNA evidence) adduced by the prosecution clearly established that sperm cells belonging to Anwar were found in the lower and upper rectum of Mohd Saiful. "The only logical explanation for this is that PW1 (Prosecution Witness 1 Mohd Saiful) must have been sodomised by the appellant (Anwar)," he said. Justice Arifin also said that the court found that based on the facts of this case, Mohd Saiful was not a willing participant in the sodomy offence but, in fact, a victim. "In any event, even if we were to agree with submissions of the counsel, we find there is ample corroborative evidence to support Mohd Saiful's testimony," he said. Justice Arifin said the apex court also agreed with the trial judge's (high court) findings that there was ample corroboration evidence of Mohd Saiful's testimony that he had been sodomised by the appellant (Anwar). Justice Arifin noted that the high court judge had taken into account facts enumerated before him and concluded that Mohd Saiful's story was adequately corroborated. "The Court of Appeal agreed with the findings of the trial judge. We have no reason to disagree with the finding," he said. The panel, also comprising Court of Appeal president Md Raus Shariff and Federal Court judges Abdull Hamid Embong, Suriyadi Halim Omar and Ramly Ali, also ruled that Mohd Saiful was a credible witness. Justice Arifin said that having gone through Mohd Saiful's evidence and how he stood the vigorous cross-examination during the trial, the panel agreed with the trial judge that there was nothing inherently improbable about his story. "We too find him to be a credible witness," he said. Touching on Mohd Saiful's credibility, Justice Arifin noted that in this case it took a lot of courage for a young man like Mohd Saiful to make such a disparaging complaint against a well-known politician like Anwar. "Knowing that such an allegation might taint him (Mohd Saiful), we cannot ignore the life-long negative effect such a serious allegation would have on Mohd Saiful and his family even if the allegation were proven to be true," he said. The judge pointed out that the minute details testified by Mohd Saiful gave his testimony the ring of truth, as, unless he had personally experienced the incident, he would not be able to relate the antecedent facts and the sexual act in such minute details. Justice Arifin said it must be borne in mind too that despite the lengthy cross-examination, Mohd Saiful had withstood that gruelling session which the trial judge described as "sometimes bordering on harassment". According to him, Mohd Saiful, in his evidence, had spoken of his previous encounters he had had with Anwar, the unpleasant sensation of pain and the reason for bringing the KY Jelly lubricant. "He hid nothing," Justice Arifin said as he pointed out that the trial judge found Mohd Saiful to be completely open and honest, a finding that was shared by the Court of Appeal. Justice Arifin also touched on complaints raised by Anwar in his appeal over the failure of both the high court and the court of appeal to consider or evaluate the latter's defence of political conspiracy. "We accept that the courts below did not explicitly consider the political conspiracy defence raised by the appellant (Anwar) in his unsworn statement from the dock," he said. He said that in law, a trial judge would not give much weight to what an accused had said in his unsworn statement as he was not subject to cross-examination by the prosecution nor could he be questioned by the trial judge. "We hold that the defence of political conspiracy remains a mere allegation unsubstantiated by any credible evidence," he said. Justice Arifin, who took two hours and 15 minutes to deliver the panel's verdict, also alluded to independent evidence considered by the trial judge before concluding that they were corroborative of Mohd Saiful's testimony of having been sodomised by Anwar. One of evidence referred to was the CCTV recording which was the primary evidence of the arrival and departure of Mohd Saiful and Anwar at the condominium on that day, corroborating the victim's story that they met at that location. Anwar had been charged with sodomising Mohd Saiful at Unit 11-5-1 of Desa Damansara Condominium in Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara, in Kuala Lumpur between 3.10 pm and 4.30 pm on June 26, 2008. -- BERNAMA