By Stephanie Sta Maria
FULL REPORT FT Syariah High Court judge Mohd Shukor Sabudin has fixed April 14 to decide on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's qazaf (false accusation) application against his sodomy accuser Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
The judge will also rule on the preliminary objections raised by the respondents to the application.
The application was heard at a three-hour session this morning. Anwar was represented by six lawyers headed by Kamar Ainiah Kamaruzzaman.
The three respondents were FT Syariah public prosecutor Shamsuddin Hussain, FT religious departments head Che Mat Che Ali and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (religious affairs) Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom.
This morning, the respondents' lawyer Zainal Rijal Abu Bakar gave three reasons as to why the qazaf application should be rejected.
The first concerned the affidavit which he claimed is flawed because it is based on a notice of application and not a summons.
The second was that the application excluded certain syariah requirements and therefore goes against syariah law.
The third questioned whether it is in the court's jurisdiction to issue an order to prosecute Saiful Bukhari.
“The question is not whether qazaf took place or not,” said Zainal. “It is whether the court can issue this prosecution order or not".
Harping on technical issues
In return, Kamar Ainiah argued that the respondents' objections didn't hold water because they wanted the case to be thrown out based on technicalities, instead of fundamental reasons.
“If they want us to refile the applications with a summons, then we will do that,” she stated. “As long as it means that justice is being upheld.”
She also opined that the non-inclusion of the syariah requirements mentioned by Zainal was insignificant and would not impact the application in any way.
Kamar Ainiah also warned that the fairness of Islamic law could come under threat if the qazaf application was denied.
“Saiful has publicly admitted to this act but he has not been punished for it,” she said.
Anwar's defence team also objected to minister Jamil's absence from the court today, accusing him of higing behind his ministerial duties.. The court was informed that he was absent due to a cabinet meeting. Following this the judge ordered Jamil to be present on April 14.
Earlier, respondents' lawyer Zainal also raised the issue of Zulkifli Noordin's withdrawal from Anwar's legal team.
He said although he had no objections to Zulkifli's withdrawal, he however hadn't receive a formal notice on this latest development. The objection was overruled by the judge who said that he had received a formal statement from the defence on the withdrawal.
The case attracted a huge number of Anwar's supporters. Extra chairs were brought into the courtroom to accommodate them. A relaxed-looking Anwar mingled with the crowd before the hearing began.
Anwar disappointed
Speaking to the media after the session, Anwar expressed his disappointment at the outcome today, stating that his matter was being delayed unnecessarily.
He emphasised that no action had been taken since he filed the application almost two years ago, and now the respondents were grasping at excuses to throw it out all altogether.
“I am also embarrassed at how the the two ustaz (two of the respondents) in this case have conducted themselves,” he said.
“They have chosen to follow Umno's demands by punishing those three women and letting Saiful off the hook,” he added.
He was referring to a decision by the FT syariah department last month to cane three women for pre-marital sex.
Anwar had filed the qazaf application on July 9, 2008 against Mohd Saiful for making "false allegations" against him in relation to alleged sodomy.
He then filed the application to compel the court to order the FT syariah prosecution department to take action against Mohd Saiful.
The respondents had filed preliminary objections on Feb 9 to strike out Anwar's qazaf application.
Anwar, 62, is facing a criminal trial at the Kuala Lumpur High Court for allegedly sodomising Saiful, 24, at a condominium in Bukit Damansara on June 26, 2008. The trial is ongoing.
