Malaysia's Anwar gets milk and honey diet in prisonKUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 (AFP) - Former Malaysian deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, serving a six-year jail term for corruption, is given a special ration of milk and honey in addition to normal prison meals, officials said Wednesday.This was on the directive of medical officers for his "health needs for a specific period of time," prison department officer Jamil Razif Kassim said in a statement to Bernama news agency. He denied reports Anwar received special treatment in prison, such as being given a special menu including chicken soup and beef curry. Anwar ate the same food as other prisoners but he was given fresh fish instead of salted fish due to his health problems, Jamil said. The former leader was also put in a single room for security reasons and to make medical treatment easier for him, he said. "The prisons department hopes any party sympathetic to Anwar or otherwise will not make the issue of his treatment in prison a platform to enlist support or objections from the people," Jamil added. Anwar, who was sacked and arrested in September 1998, was found guilty in April of abusing his official position to cover up allegations of sexual misconduct. He is now on trial for sodomy. Anwar was hospitalised for over three weeks last month after his lawyers said his urine sample tested in Australia under an assumed name showed high levels of arsenic, indicating a possible murder attempt. He returned to prison on October 4. Hospital tests showed Anwar was not suffering from "acute or chronic arsenic poisoning," but his wife insisted he could have been poisoned earlier. Police are still investigating the case. |
