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KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian opposition figurehead Anwar Ibrahim Wednesday filed a complaint in the Islamic court that challenges a young male aide who accuses him of sodomy to prove his allegations.
Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 23, has been under police protection since accusing Anwar of sodomising him -- the same charge that saw the opposition leader jailed a decade ago.
"On the advice of Muslim scholars... I have decided to make this report to Islamic courts in Malaysia, under the provision of malicious attack on my character... and as demeaning to me and my family," Anwar said.
"This slander is a major issue because it involves a sexual crime and the attempt is of course to mislead the Muslim population, to attack me and my character."
Under sharia laws, which run in parallel to the secular courts in predominantly Muslim Malaysia, Saiful will be required to produce four credible witnesses to back up his claims, lawyers said.
If he fails to do so, he can be declared a "fasid" or unreliable person, and faces three years imprisonment for bearing false witness.
"In Islam a man is presumed innocent until proven guilty," Anwar's Islamic counsel Kamar Ainah Kamaruzaman said.
"Whoever accuses him must bring the proof. It is not for him to prove his innocence, it's for the accuser to prove that he is guilty," she said.
Anwar has reportedly been challenged by Islamic scholars and his 23-year-old accuser to swear on the Koran that he did not sexually assault the young aide, according to news reports.
The sodomy claim threatens to derail a stunning political comeback by Anwar, who was sacked as deputy premier in 1998 and jailed on sodomy and corruption allegations that he said were politically motivated.
Anwar has said he is poised to seize power from Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi with the help of government defectors, after his opposition alliance claimed one third of parliamentary seats and five states in March elections.
He is now embroiled in a political battle with Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak -- Abdullah's heir apparent -- trading serious allegations that have deepened Malaysia's political crisis.
- AFP /ls
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