Anwar : ‘I was treated like Botak Chin’

KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim today testified in the trial-within-a-trial of his sodomy hearing, and related how he was treated like the notorious criminal Botak Chin, who was hanged in 1981, by the police.

Dressed in a suit, Anwar first sought permission to testify in English and retook the oath before a packed courtroom.

Yesterday, Kuala Lumpur High Court judge, Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, allowed the defence’s application for a trial-within-a-trial.

This is to enable the court to decide on the admissibility of three items recovered from Anwar’s cell when he was detained overnight between July 16 and 17, 2008.

The items are a mineral water bottle, “Good Morning” towel and a white toothbrush.

At one point, when questioned by his lead counsel Karpal Singh, the opposition leader drew laughter from those present when he said that some 10-15 armed policemen donning “barracudas” had intercepted his car.

Karpal then corrected the PKR supremo, saying that the policemen were wearing “balaclavas”.

Relating his arrest back then, Anwar said that he was on his way to Segambut for the Zohor prayers on July 16, 2008, when the police vehicles, both patrol cars and unmarked cars, blocked his path.

When the policemen told him that they were ordered to arrest him, he replied that there was no need to do so since he had agreed to be present at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters at 2pm that day.

After recording his statement, Anwar was then taken to Hospital Kuala Lumpur where the authorities wanted to extract a DNA sample from him but was advised by his counsel not to comply.

“I was told to remove my clothes, including my underwear. This was degrading,” he said, adding that the medical personnel had wanted to measure his penis and swab his anus with cotton buds.

He later told the court that when he was in the lock-up, he was given two towels, a tooth brush, tooth paste and soap.

Anwar, however, could not recollect what was written on the towels.

The opposition leader also said that he was forced to sleep on the cement floor, despite having a back condition, and described the premises as “deplorable and atrocious”.

When cross-examined by Solicitor-General II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden, Anwar said: “No normal person is treated this way, Not told the offence and dragged like an al-Qaeda agent.”

“I was treated like Botak Chin,” he said, but told the court when quizzed that he was not physically abused by the police.

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