KUALA LUMPUR, 10 May 2004 — Malaysia’s jailed ex-Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim launches his final bid for freedom today when the country’s highest court begins hearing his appeal against a sodomy conviction.
If he fails, he will remain in prison, where he has already served five years on a corruption charge, until at least 2009.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists have called the charges against him politically motivated.
The international human rights watchdogs Saturday called for a fair hearing for the former deputy prime minister.
Today’s hearing is Anwar’s “last chance at freedom,” said Ingrid Massage, director of Amnesty International’s Asia Program.
“It is time that the injustices that marked the arrest, trial and imprisonment of Anwar Ibrahim be set right.”
“Both the trials and appeals were marred by serious violations of due process,” the three rights groups said in a statement from New York.
“The prosecution repeatedly amended the charges against Anwar in an apparent attempt to nullify Anwar’s alibi, and government witnesses made contradictory statements about their contacts with the accused,” they said.
