5-Year Jail Term For Malaysia Opposition Leader Over Sodomy Charges
The Malaysian Federal Court announced on Tuesday its decision on the appeal of Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy conviction case. Federal Court Judge Arifin Zakat upheld the Appeal Court’s decision in 2014 that Anwar – who was deputy prime minister – must serve five years in jail for sodomy.
In March, the Appeal Court upheld also the conviction of Anwar for sodomising a political aide. Anal sex between males, even if consensual, is considered illegal in Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim nation.
Anwar denied the accusation and insisted it was politically motivated. Arifin, however, rejected his argument that the semen samples taken from the aide, Saiful Azlan Bukhari, were tampered by the police.
He sodomised Saiful in 2008 when the latter was still employed with the Opposition’s campaign office. Anwar was acquitted in 2012 by the High Court, but the Appeal Court reversed the ruling in 2014
“If the decision is based on law and facts, there is no possibility of a conviction,” Anwar told media last week.
With the federal court’s decision, 67-year-old Anwar’s last resort for appeal has ended. After Arifin read the five-judge panel’s decision, Wan Azizah, the wife of Anwar, cried.
A conviction places his political career at risk and could spark protests. The March conviction is theorised as one of the reasons why Malaysia Airlines Flight 360 went missing as an alleged deliberate act of the pilot, who was friends with Anwar, seeing the move as a protest to the court conviction.
He adds, “Authoritarian figures think the best possibility of a conviction is to jail them or shoot them. But throughout history this always backfired,” quotes Channel News Asia.
While the Human Rights Watch criticised the selective persecution of Anwar, ruling party members and analysts believe a conviction would have minimal effect since Anwar’s political image is not as strong or close to what It was in the 1990s.
Others think the three-party alliance would crush with Anwar’s conviction.
Hundreds of Anwar’s supporters gathered outside the court building in Putrajaya, the country’s administrative capital.
According to EarsToHear.net, the lining of the anus is too delicate to withstand trauma cause by intercourse, unlike the vagina’s lining which is tough, similar to the skin in human hands, making it withstand the trauma of penile penetration and childbirth.
Anal intercourse, whether the penis or an object enters the rectal opening, traumatises the soft tissue of the rectal lining and causes tears in it, allowing for immediate contamination and entry of germs into the bloodstream.
To contact the writer, email: v.hernandez@ibtimes.com.au