PUTRAJAYA, October 29 – The hearing of the sodomy appeal of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim resumed today, with his lawyers continuing to submit on why the Federal Court should overturn the PKR advisor’s conviction and five-year jail term.
Three of Anwar’s defence counsel indicated today that they would need a whole day for their submissions. Lead counsel Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram had given a lengthy submission yesterday.
Lawyer N. Surendran was the first to submit today before the five-man bench headed by Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria.
He will be followed by lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo, who is expected to touch on the samples collected from the cell where Anwar was detained overnight at the Kuala Lumpur Police headquarters following a report by his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, on the alleged incident.
Another counsel, Ramkarpal Singh, is expected to submit on the details of the DNA analysis, including disputing the integrity of the samples collected from Mohd Saiful.
Senior lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who is heading the prosecution team, is expected to make his submission tomorrow, and the proceeding is likely to continue to Friday.
The Apex Court is expected to fix another date to deliver its verdict.
On Jan 9, 2012, the High Court acquitted and discharged Anwar of having sodomised Mohd Saiful, 27, on grounds that the court could not be 100 per cent certain on the integrity of samples taken for DNA testing from Mohd Saiful.
The court had ruled that the samples could have been compromised before they reached the Chemistry Department for analysis.
However, on March 7 this year, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court decision and found Anwar guilty of having sodomised Mohd Saiful.
The Court of Appeal held that the trial judge had erred in his findings about the samples which were based on the evidence of two expert witnesses called by the defence.
Anwar was sentenced to five years’ jail for the offence, having been charged with committing it at Unit 11-5-1 of the Desa Damansara Condominium in Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara, between 3.10 pm and 4.30 pm on June 26, 2008.
The charge, under Section 377B of the Penal Code, carries a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping, upon conviction.
– BERNAMA
