Prosecution wants to appeal against Anwar's acquittal

PETALING JAYA: The prosecuting team of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's trial wants to appeal against the High Court decision which acquitted the Opposition Leader of the charge of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
Lead prosecutor Solicitor-General II Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden said the decision to file for an appeal was made after studying all evidence relating to the case, reported TV3 in its Nightline English news this morning.
Mohd Yusof would make the recommendation to Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail soon so that an appeal could be filed within 10 days, added Nightline.
The Solicitor-General II added that prosecutors would first apply for the full written judgment to study the grounds for the acquittal.
On Monday, Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah said the court could not be 100% certain after going through the evidence that the integrity of the DNA samples had not been compromised.
“The court finds that it is not safe to rely on the DNA evidence. So what is left is only SP1's (Mohd Saiful) testimony, ” he said in his oral judgment.
“As this is a sexual crime, the court is reluctant to convict based entirely on SP1's testimony without corroboration. The accused is thus acquitted and discharged,” he ruled.
Earlier in the day, at a press conference, Saiful's father Azlan Mohd Lazim urged for an appeal.
“For the sake of my son, I plead with the A-G's Chambers to appeal. As a father, I will continue to be with my son to get justice,” he said.
He added that the A-G's Chambers should not be influenced by the Bar Council or any other party asking it not to appeal.
Azlan said the view of the council seemed to deny a citizen's right to a trial.
“The Bar Council should take a neutral stand on the judicial process and not prevent justice.
“This is the first time that we are appealing and there are attempts to prevent it. Why the double standards? Is it because my son is an ordinary citizen and not a VIP or a politician that his rights can be denied?” he asked.
Azlan said his family had yet to decide on the next course of action, including taking a civil suit against Anwar, adding that they would wait until the 14-day period to appeal had been exhausted.
He, however, did not want to answer questions on the outcome of the trial but said that despite the court's decision, Saiful was “all right and upbeat”.
“Life is normal for him and the family. We have moved on. We act professionally, even though we are nobodies,” he said.

tunku ; till today no one had read the full judgement. the judge only gave his verdict on a short couple of paragraphs only.any how we don't mind if they (prosecutors)don't appeal the case as long as anwar can swear about it in the mosque that he had not done (sodomy) that. can anwar do it (swear) now? why he worry now ? he had won the case in the court.