Aug 3, 2000
Sodomy trial verdict put off
Ajinder Kaur
1.45pm, THURS: Former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial verdict scheduled to be handed down tomorrow by the Kuala Lumpur High Court has been postponed to an unspecified date, one of Anwar's defence counsel Sankara Nair said this afternoon.
"I received a fax statement at 12.30pm today to inform that the verdict (to be announced by judge Arifin Jaka) has been postponed to a new date until further notice," Sankara told malaysiakini when contacted.
He said that the reason stated was that "the judge is not ready with his judgment yet".
Sankara added that he will be meeting Anwar at the Sungai Buloh prison this afternoon to convey the news of the latest development.
Judge Arifin had earlier, at the end of the sodomy proceedings on July 18, tentatively set to deliver his verdict tomorrow.
Anwar, 52, is facing charges for allegedly sodomising his wife's former driver Azizan Abu Bakar, 39, together with his Indonesian adopted brother Sukma Dermawan Sasmitaat Madja, 39, at Sukma's apartment in Tivoli Villas, Bangsar on "one night at 7.45pm, between January and March, 1993".
If convicted, both Anwar and Sukma face up to 20 years in jail. Sukma also faces caning, which is only imposed on those aged below 50.
Incidently, malaysiakini's poll this week, Regarding the planned "Judgment Day" rally on Aug 4, recorded results showed that 15.2 percent of the 2,280 respondents as of 1pm today got it right when they voted that "the judgment will be put off" from among the five choices.
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