Sex tape screening legit says Nazri

Jokingly describing it as a "blue movie", Nazri said he saw no violation of the law.

FMT ALERT

KUALA LUMPUR: Minister in the Prime Minister Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz said the sex tape screening involving a supposed top opposition leader to members of the media was legal.

Jokingly describing it as a “blue movie”, Nazri said he saw no violation of the law when a man by the name of “Datuk T” invited top editors and reporters to watch the 21-minute recording.

“What was it that was against the law?” he asked.

He was speaking to reporters in his office at Parliament House here today.

Malaysia has a strict set of laws against pornographic materials. Section 292 of the Penal Code prohibits any possession or screening of any form of pornographic materials.

The video, screened at a posh hotel in the city centre yesterday, showed a man that “resembles” PKR de facto and Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, whose political career is already mired in various allegations of sex-related scandals, having sex with a Chinese-looking woman. Anwar had denied that it was him on the video.

Nazri said he took the video exposé seriously. But while Anwar and his allies cried foul over it, the de facto law minister said it was the duty of the “actor” in the “blue movie” to report to the authorities if he felt victimised.

“But the point is the movie itself and the actor,” he said, adding that that the exposé was legitimate.

Nazri, however, said that if any parties felt that the screening had violated the law, they should inform him and point out which specific law the exposé had violated.

“We all say it’s against the law but nobody knows the law,” he said, adding that the screening would only be illegal if it had collected ticket fares.

For Nazri, the screening was done to notify the media and have them as “witnesses” to the video. He believes that “Datuk T” intends to lodge a police report on the tape as well.

Anwar panicked?

Anwar in a hastily called press conference yesterday (see video) blasted the exposé as a “scurrilous attack” against him and accused the Barisan Nasional (BN) of being the architect.

He claimed he was with his family members including his wife, PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ahmad, on the day when the recording was made and even tweeted about it.

The recording as shown on the tape was dated Feb 21. It showed a man having sexual intercourse in “several positions” with a Chinese female believed to be a prostitute.

BN leaders denied allegations it was behind the controversy and said it was typical of Anwar and his allies to blame them for their own shortcomings.

They and Nazri also questioned the manner of Anwar’s denial, suggesting that his panicked and “immediate” reaction meant he is hiding something.

“Why do you say anything about it? Why deny? No one said it’s him,” Nazri said.

Don’t kill the messenger

The man in the video has been given a week to resign from his position, said Datuk T, one of the organisers of the event. Anwar, on the other hand, has already lodged a police report on the video this morning.

Pakatan Rakyat leaders claimed the video was doctored and manufactured to dent the opposition’s chances of wresting Sarawak from BN in the state election.

The screening was done yesterday, the same day the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly was dissolved.

But Nazri dismissed Pakatan leaders’ claims, saying they are running away from the main issue – who is the actor in the tape?

“Do not raise issues not central to this (video),” he said. “Don’t shoot the messenger,” Nazri said in describing opposition leaders’ effort to deflect the tape’s implication. - FMT

Meanwhile, Malaysian Insider reports:

By Shannon Teoh

March 22, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said today that the screening of the sex video allegedly showing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim having sex with a Chinese prostitute may not have been illegal despite laws barring pornography.

“It depends on what the purpose is. They wanted to show proof that Anwar had sex with this woman, not to make a pornographic video,” said the minister in the prime minister's department.

The de facto law minister said that “if they were screening it to reporters with the intention to have witnesses, or to have on record people who can corroborate what they say, then it is not against the law.”

Opposition leader Anwar had lodged a police report earlier today and told reporters later that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein were involved in what he says was a an attack on him and Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

“These individuals have committed all forms of crime — criminal defamation, intimidation, and the viewing of pornography in public.

“My proof of high-level involvement is that why no action was taken by the police on this? How can porn be displayed publicly? It’s protection by the police,” he said.

Section 292(a) of the Penal Code prohibits the production, sale, rental, distribution and public circulation of any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, drawing, painting, representation or
object.

Nazri had also pointed out that the screening was not for money or commercial purposes.

“If you are collecting money and have a show without a licence, then it’s an illegal blue movie. We all know that the intention is to report to the police and he just wanted to have witnesses,” the Padang Rengas MP said.

Anwar yesterday denied that he was the man in the video after the video was screened to selected journalists by a shadowy figure who only identified himself as “Datuk T”.

“Datuk T” had said that the video was taken from closed-circuit television camera recordings found in a hotel room in Kuala Lumpur.