23 March 2011

Court rules Anwar's arrest lawful...

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah today ruled that the arrest of Anwar Ibrahim in 2008 was lawful and reversed its decision in the trial-within-a-trial held earlier this month.

Justice Zabidin said he considered the evidence following the testimony from the investigating officer Supt Jude Blacious Pereira, who was not called during the trial-within-a-trial.

"After considering the evidence before me, along with the testimony of the IO (investigating officer) and the arresting officer (Supt Ahmad Taufik Abdullah), I ruled the arrest was lawful. "With this, the items retrieved from the cell - (the mineral water bottle, toothbrush and towel) - could be tendered as evidence," he said in his brief three-minute decision.

However, the judge disagreed with the prosecution's application to order the opposition leader to give his DNA samples. He said after scrutinising the law, there was no provision for the court to do so.

After justice Zabidin announced his decision, solicitor-general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden made an application on behalf of the prosecution to recall two witnesses.

Although Yusof did not state who they were, they are expected to be chemist Nor Aidora Saedon and former crime scene investigation head (Supt) Amidon Anan, both of whom were involved in retrieving the DNA samples from the three items.

Yusof said he did not make any preparation to recall the duo in light of the uncertainty in today's decision.

"Can the trial be postponed to tomorrow?" he asked.

Justice Zabidin then consulted lawyer Karpal Singh, who replied that the defence did not have any objection.

Following this, the judge ordered that the hearing of the controversial sodomy trial to resume tomorrow at 9am.

As today's proceedings come to a quick end, Anwar said from the dock there had been political pressure applied on the court.

source:malaysiakini

'Tamparan kepada Anwar, tiga barangan diterima'

cheers.

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