I never had any sexual relations with Saiful...

In an unexpected turn, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim today gave a statement from the dock instead of the witness stand in his defence of the sodomy charge at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Anwar has three options - to testify under oath from the witness stand, give a statement from the dock where he cannot be cross-examined, or reserve his right to remain silent.

The options were spelled out by Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah when hearing resumed this morning. Anwar told justice Zabidin that he would give his statement from the dock, which means the prosecution cannot question him.

If the statement is given from the witness stand, Anwar can be subject to cross-examination by the prosecution hence the evidence given is given maximum weightage.

In the first two trials 10 years ago, Anwar took the witness stand in defending against the abuse of power as well as the Sodomy I charges. Anwar is charged with sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 25, at the Desa Damansara condominium between 3.01pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.

9.34am: Court called into session. Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah enters the courtroom.

9.35am: Karpal informs the judge that Anwar will be giving his testimony from the dock. He asked for 15 minutes break. Justice Zabidin tells Anwar of the three options. He verifies that Anwar is giving statement from the dock. A statement given from the dock cannot be cross-examined by the prosecution. Anwar answers 'yes'.

9.38am: Court adjourns for 15 minutes as requested by Karpal.

9.48am: PAS vice-president Mahfuz Omar arrives and is seen talking to Anwar, who is in the dock, an area in which the accused is to sit during court proceedings.

The court is still in recess.

9.55am: Court resumes. Although Anwar is giving a statement from the dock, he is seated on the lawyer's bench where there is a microphone. There is pin drop silence as the gallery awaits Anwar's statement. Justice Zabidin notes that although the accused is sitted among lawyers, it is still considered a statement from the dock.

9.57am: Anwar begins his statement by recounting what happened in 1998 when he was sacked as the deputy prime minister and faced his first sodomy trial.

He said he refused then Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's instruction to resign. He then speaks of a new conspiracy with a similar plot, this time involving Saiful. "I categorically deny with the charge. I do not have any sexual relations with Saiful... They can do all they want but they won't be able to count me into submission," he said.

10.00am: Anwar quotes Nelson Mandela: "I fought against white domination and black domination... It is an ideal I am prepared to achieve." Anwar said that in 1998, he was blindfolded and assaulted.

10.01am: Anwar says there was a cover up by Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail and former IGP Musa Hassan over legal transgressions during the first sodomy trial. "These are the same personalities who are behind this in this (new) conspiracy... Circumstances compelling (me) that I have decided to take statement from the dock," said Anwar, his voice sounding hoarse. He quoted Shakespeare's Hamlet and says he has been deprived of a level playing field.

10.04am: Anwar claims unseen hands at work and that it was "certainly" not the hand of god. He points to a statement by Prime Minister Najib over his refusal to hand over his DNA sample. Then then moves onto Saiful's statement on TV3 last week and calls it another blatant attempt to attack his character. However, he insinuates that it was Saiful's character that should be questioned. "Saiful has a scandalous affair with a member of the prosecution DPP and with another man." He notes intimidation of witnesses during the trial.

10.10pm: Anwar cites in Latin that the judge should have two swords - one representing conscientious and and another for justice. "He holds the balance between the executive and subject. He should be mindful of god's commands," Anwar cited a passage from Al Maidah chapter in Quran.

10.11am: Anwar laments that what happened during his trial was not in accordance with justice as demonstrated by Justice Akhtar Tahir in calling Utusan Malaysia and TV3 in the Sosilawati Lawiya case. "This marks a hallmark of judicial activism." He pointed out that Saiful's relationship with DPP Farah Azlina Latif would have alerted the court and judge. "Yang arif did not chastise on Farah Azlina Latif, she is merely removed from the prosecution... Farah Azlina did not deny this and neither was Saiful called to deny this," he said.

10.15am: Anwar attacks Justice Zabidin's judgment in finding Saiful a truthful witness. "My lawyers said Yang Arif (the learned judge) made a prejudgment in the matter. Had you acted correctly, I will choose to give my testimony from the witness stand," he explains.

10.17am: Giving another example of how he is being denied a fair trial, Anwar cites the Court of Appeal judgment which turned down the defence's third attempt to have the trial judge recused. He notes that the Court of Appeal took only five minutes to make the decision and did not provide any grounds. "The judgment is another scurrious attack on me without giving any opportunity."

10.20am: Dead silence continues as everyone listens to Anwar attentively. Anwar describe Court of Appeal judgment by Justice Abdul Malik Ishak was an attack on him. "This case will fall in history. It is chronicled where the appeallant as an accused person filed applications, one after another, in an on-going sodomy trial," Anwar read Justice Abdul Malik's judgment. Anwar argued that this remark was unfair because he has the right to exhaust all legal avenues.

10.28am: "How can I possibly give evidence under oath when the DPP has, in his possession, the same judgment which could be used against me in cross-examination?"

10.31am: Citing a case in India, Anwar says the court should be independent from the pressures of the executive and political whims. 10.36am: He reminds that it is proper for courts to administer justice but not attack a person.

10.37am: In the present case, Anwar said how could he give evidence from the witness stand when the witnesses such as Najib, Rosmah, Musa and Rodwan would not cooperate with the accused by saying: "we are not prepared to be interviewed." "This is at the suggestion of Yang Ariff," said Anwar.

10.40am: Anwar says Justice Zabidin should not enter to the arena with him making the statement in allowing the interview. Anwar complains that his alibi witnesses were made known to the prosecution, but it was later found that they were included in the prosecution list of witnesses but this was not supplied to his lawyers. "They were defence alibi witnesses. I am informed this is the first time this has been done," he said. Making matters more complicated for him was the fact that Jasanuddin Abd Hamid had his statements recorded by the police for 30 hours. He calls this a form of harassment. "This was obvious when he was interviewed by the defence lawyers in my presence. The police investigation has scuttled my defence. "To make a mockery of the situation, the prosecution offered at the close of their case an alibi witness named, Fitria binti Dipan, who by their own admission cannot be traced," he said.

Anwar reiterates he denies the allegations against him.

10.42am: Anwar points out certain facts against Saiful's credibility which had been ignored by the trial judge. Among others, Anwar said that Saiful's own admission during the examination-in-chief, he made no attempts to look the condo unit from the inside and made no attempts to flee the alledged sexual assault. "His reason was that he was petrified by fear. But such a reason flies against the facts. Here is a man in his early twenties, a six-footer, physically fit and robust and with powerful connections in the top police brass as well as the political elite with access to the very inner sanctum of power. "Additionally, he has also been a key Umno student operative, having undergone the rigorous training conducted by the Biro Tata Negara of the Prime Minister's Department," he said.

10.46am: Anwar says no attempt was made by Saiful to seek medical attention after the alleged sexual assault and he attended a PKR meeting the next day. He also attended the Anwar Ibrahim supporters club meet. "Two days prior to alleged act he met with Najib and Rosmah and called Musa and met Rodwan." Anwar called Saiful lying to his teeth but despite this, the trial judge found him to be a truthful witness.

10.50am: Anwar says the integrity of the said DNA samples were compromised. "Impartiality of the chemists is in question, with such degradation of all samples in this case," he said.

10.51am: Anwar asks for a few minutes break. Justice Zabidin says court will be in session by 11.15am.

11.07am: All five of Anwar's daughters including Nurul Izzah is in court. Also present is Batu MP and PKR vice president Tian Chua.

11.16am: Court is now in session. Just as Justice Zabidin walks in, a mobile sounded off and was quickly hushed.

Karpal applies that Anwar continue his statement sitting down.

Anwar resumes his statement and talks about his trial and his arrest on July 16, 2008.

11.18am: Anwar noted the trial within trial ruling was reversed and this he described this as "something most shocking an unprecedented".

11.20am: Anwar notes there is violation of Lock-Up Regulations where he had been placed beyond the lock-up period of 6pm to 6am.

11.23am: Anwar maintains the evidence obtain from his cell were obtained through unfair methods.

11.24am: Anwar says there is not an iota of evidence, DNA or otherwise, that has ever been found in the premise of the alleged act, not in the wash room, bed room, carpets or anywhere else where such evidence ought to have been found.

11.25am: Anwar says the alleged semen sample retrieved from Saiful's anus were in degradation and deterioration after 90 hours.

"However all this was disregarded," he said.

11.28am: Anwar notes that the Hospital Kuala Lumpur doctor who took the witness stand earlier had refused to look at his notes while testifying but he was caught surreptitiously taking a sneak peak of his notes.

11.30am: Anwar says the defence evidence will show that while the prosecution claims to have proof of the presence of "seminal fluid" or "sperm", this is completely unfounded.

"In fact, this purported proof is nothing but pure fabrication, a fact which is not that unusual considering the past history of the prosecution in this regard. If they had had any such forensic evidence, they would have guarded it for dear life rather than let it being handled in such a sloppy manner."

11.37am: Anwar says all this is nothing but a conspiracy by Prime Minister Najib to send him into political oblivion.

"I therefore declare that I have no faith whatsoever that justice will prevail in these proceedings."

"This is not a criminal trial. It is a charade staged by the powers that be to put me out of action in order that they remain in power," he said.

He went on further in saying this was similarly done by Dr Mahathir in 1998.

He points out the allegation surfaced just one month before he contested in the Permatang Pauh by-election.

11.40am: Anwar says the entire conspiracy revolved around Saiful being the pawn for shady plotters out to achieve their ends.

11.42am: Anwar says the conspiracy was to inflict maximum damage to his character in the run-up to the by-elections.

11.43am: Anwar says it again that this is not a fair trial and that is now the holy month of Ramadhan.

"I was condemned to imprisonment not for any crime but for my political beliefs."

11.45pm: Anwar attacks the judge, accusing him of lacking impartiality.

"I say it because you have consistently refused to recuse yourself even in the face of mounting evidence of your bias against me."

He ends his statement by citing a verse from the Quran

"And when you judge between mankind then you judge justly."

11.47pm: The judge asks for a copy of the statement.

11.48pm: Karpal asks the court to mark the statement as exhibit. There was no objection from the prosecution.

However, chief prosecutor Yusof remarks that this was a "different" style of statement from the dock and that it was a political statement.

"I would love to cross-examine Anwar," said Yusof.

11.50am: Karpal informs he has subpoenaed seven witness including Najib, Rosmah, Musa and Rodwan.

"Are they outside?," Karpal asks.

11.53am: Trial is adjourned until 9am tomorrow.

11.55am: Tomorrow the two Aussie expert will be testifying along with Pusrawi doctor Dr Mohd Osman Abdul Hamid.

source: malaysiakini

Anwar beri keterangan dari kandang tertuduh

cheers.