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KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said Tuesday he would call the prime minister and his wife as witnesses in his sodomy trial, accusing the couple of a conspiracy to end his political career.
Anwar, who was sacked as deputy premier and jailed on similar charges a decade ago, criticised the case, which has major implications for Malaysia's turbulent political scene, as "the machinations of the dirty, corrupt few".
He said he had evidence that his accuser, 24-year-old former aide Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, had met Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, at their home shortly before lodging an explosive police report.
"We want to subpoena Najib and Rosmah as witnesses because they were personally involved in the conspiracy and frame-up," Anwar told reporters at the High Court, which is hearing the case. "They must have the courage to come."
"It is politically motivated," he said of the trial, which he maintains is a plot to neutralise the threat he poses to the Barisan Nasional coalition government.
The government insists it was not involved in the decision to take the case to trial. "The PM and his wife have nothing to do with it," a government spokesman said in response to Anwar's comments.
The Barisan Nasional coalition has ruled Malaysia for half a century but suffered its worst results in 2008 polls, when Anwar rallied the opposition to seize a third of parliamentary seats.
The trial was scheduled to start Tuesday after months of delays caused by defence manoeuvres, including bids to strike out the charges and obtain prosecution evidence such as medical reports and CCTV footage.
High Court judge Zabidin Mohamad Diah rejected a defence application for another postponement until outstanding hearings are resolved, and said the proceedings would begin in earnest on Wednesday afternoon.
However, Anwar's lawyers are hoping they can secure a delay in a meeting Wednesday morning with the president of the appeals court.
"In the interests of justice, the appellant should be given every opportunity to exhaust his rights to appeal," defence lawyer Karpal Singh told the court.
Singh said evidence disclosed so far was extremely weak and that two medical reports had found no conclusive evidence of sexual penetration.
Saiful, who has maintained a low profile since the allegations emerged in 2008, said he was ready to appear as a witness on Wednesday.
"At last, after one and a half years, I will get to testify and defend myself," he told reporters.
He did not comment on the allegations over the meeting with Najib, but the prime minister last year told a press conference that Saiful did visit him to allege he had been sodomised by Anwar.
At the start of the hearing, up to 300 opposition supporters marched into the High Court building and stood on the staircase in the main lobby, yelling their battle cry of "Reformasi" ("Reform").
"We are here to demonstrate against the injustice that Anwar is facing, we will be here every day until this matter is resolved," said parliamentarian Tian Chua.
The courtroom was packed to capacity, with reporters, legal observers, and diplomats from the US, Japan and European nations.
The trial looms after a tumultuous few months in Malaysian politics, with the opposition beset by infighting and the government struggling to handle a religious row that has seen places of worship firebombed and vandalised.
Najib is battling to defend Malaysia's image as a moderate Muslim-majority nation amid cases that have raised fears of "Islamisation," including a caning sentence against a young woman caught drinking beer.
The Anwar trial, which defence lawyers say could drag on for eight months, poses a major challenge for both sides on the political divide.
Anwar, a charismatic 62-year-old and married father of six, was a celebrated finance minister before being sacked in 1998 amid a policy row with then-premier Mahathir Mohamad during the Asian economic crisis.
He was convicted of sodomy and corruption but, after six years behind bars, his sexual misconduct charge was overturned and he was freed in 2004.
- AFP/ir
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