Malaysia: Anwar sodomy judge mulls stepping down

Asian Defense News: KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial was suspended for a week Wednesday, pending a decision whether the judge should step down because of defense claims that he is biased.
The ruling on High Court Judge Mohamad Zabidin Diah's alleged bias will be made by the judge himself. He said he will announce on Feb. 18 whether he would exit the case if he feels he is biased against Anwar in the politically explosive case.
Anwar could be jailed for up to 20 years if he is convicted of sodomizing a 24-year-old male former aide, effectively ending his career and his aspirations to become prime minister.
Opposition leaders have decried the charge as a government conspiracy to hobble their three-party alliance, which harbors hopes of winning power in the next national elections due in 2013. Prime Minister Najib Razak and other officials have denied plotting against Anwar.
The trial began last week with testimony from Anwar's accuser, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, who claimed Anwar had anal sex with him at a condominium on June 26, 2008. Key details of the alleged incident were not made public because explicit portions of Saiful's testimony were recorded in court without public observers.
Anwar's lawyer, Karpal Singh, on Wednesday criticized the judge's refusal to penalize a newspaper owned by Najib's ruling party that published a photograph and headline last week that Anwar's lawyers believe were misleading and tantamount to contempt of court.
"The judge must not only be beyond suspicion and (be) honest but also not fear (showing his impartiality)," Singh said.
Government lawyers said there was no need for the judge to step down because they believed the newspaper had not done anything wrong.
The judge previously defended his decision, saying Anwar should file a police complaint against the newspaper if he believed its coverage was malicious.
Anwar claims Malaysia's mainstream media, which are generally pro-government because of their close links to parties in the governing National Front coalition, are trying to make him appear guilty of sodomy, a crime in this Muslim-majority country even if consensual.
A sentence of at least a year would bar Anwar, 62, from politics for five years from the date of his release. He claims the charge was concocted by Najib and his allies to undermine Anwar's People's Alliance, which severely dented the National Front's parliamentary majority in March 2008 elections.
Anwar, who is married with six children, was previously tried for sodomy in 1998 when he was deputy prime minister under then-leader Mahathir Mohamad. He spent six years in prison for alleged corruption and sodomy before the sodomy conviction was quashed. Anwar insists he was framed by Mahathir, who has denied it.

(By EILEEN NG,Associated Press Writer - Wednesday, February 12)

Verdict expected in Indonesia corruption case

Asian Defense News: JAKARTA, Indonesia – An Indonesian judge prepared a verdict Thursday on the country's former anti-graft chief, who stands accused of masterminding the murder of a state businessman.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Antasari Azhar, a former head of the independent Corruption Eradication Commission, better known as the KPK.
Azhar, 56, was arrested in May, two months after Nasrudin Zulkarnaen _ director of pharmaceutical company PT Putra Rajawali Banjaran _ was shot through the window of his car as he left a golf course on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta.
In South Jakarta District Court, prosecutors said Azhar wanted Zulkarnaen killed because he threatened to expose an incident of alleged sexual harassment between Azhar and Zulkarnaen's wife.
Azhar has denied wrongdoing, and described his arrest as a smear campaign in retaliation for his efforts to put high-ranking officials behind bars for corruption.
In separate trials Thursday, police colonel Williardi Wizar was convicted and sentenced to 12 years for recruiting the hit men, and businessman Sigit Haryo Wibisono sentenced to 15 years for financing the operation. Prosecutors had asked for the death penalty for both.
Jerry Hermawan Lo, another businessman who introduced the hit men to Wizar, received the lightest sentence of five years. Prosecutors had asked for 15.
The five hit men involved in Zulkarnaen's killing have each received between 17 and 18 years' imprisonment.
As head of the anti-graft commission for two years, Azhar oversaw a series of high-profile probes into government officials and institutions, including the father-in-law of one of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's sons.
The case against Azhar came amid a high-level plot to undermine the KPK, in which two of the commission's deputies were arrested on bogus charges of bribery and blackmail.
Anti-graft watchdogs regularly rank Indonesia as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

(By IRWAN FIRDAUS,Associated Press Writer - Thursday, February 11)

Indonesia anti-graft official convicted in killing

By IRWAN FIRDAUS,Associated Press Writer - Friday, February 12
Asian Defense News: JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesia's former anti-graft chief was convicted of plotting the murder of a businessman and sentenced to 18 years in prison on Thursday, in a case that has undermined the country's fight against corruption.
Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Antasari Azhar, a former head of the independent Corruption Eradication Commission, but the judge cited Azhar's politeness, dedication to the commission, and lack of a prior record in delivering the lighter sentence.
"The sentence is not intended as revenge, but to make the defendant aware of his mistakes," Judge Herri Swantoro said in South Jakarta District Court. Azhar, 56, said he would appeal.
Swantoro found Azhar guilty of plotting the March 15 killing of Nasrudin Zulkarnaen, director of pharmaceutical company PT Putra Rajawali Banjaran. He was shot through the window of his car as he left a golf course on the outskirts of Jakarta.
"The defendant has been proven guilty of conspiring to plot a premeditated murder," Swantoro said.
Prosecutors say Zulkarnaen was blackmailing Azhar over an alleged sexual encounter between Zulkarnaen's wife and Azhar.
Azhar denied wrongdoing and described his arrest as a smear campaign in retaliation for his efforts to put high-ranking officials behind bars for corruption.
"I respect the verdict, but as a good citizen, give us a chance to seek justice," he told the court after being sentenced. "We will appeal."
Several dozen Azhar supporters erupted into a chorus of boos after the judge read the sentence, the conclusion of a four-month trial. Azhar showed little emotion, but hugged his two daughters before being led out of the courtroom.
The case attracted huge interest across the country, and the verdict was broadcast live on national television with the banner, "The end of the Antasari drama." Several hundred police stood guard and around 200 journalists jammed the courthouse.
In his two years as head of the anti-graft commission _ better known as the KPK _ Azhar oversaw a series of high-profile probes into government officials and institutions, including the father-in-law of one of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's sons.
Anti-graft watchdogs regularly rank Indonesia as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and the case against Azhar came amid a high-level plot to undermine the KPK in which two of the group's deputies were arrested on bogus charges of bribery and blackmail.
Azhar's lawyer, Juniver Girsang, said the judges ignored evidence in the case.
"They said the verdict would only be based on evidence revealed at the hearing instead of what was contained in the police documents," Girsang said outside court. "In fact, the verdict did not touch on the evidence."
Five alleged hit men in Zulkarnaen's killing have each received between 17 and 18 years' imprisonment.
In separate trials Thursday, police Col. Williardi Wizar was convicted and sentenced to 12 years on charges of recruiting the hit men, and businessman Sigit Haryo Wibisono was sentenced to 15 years for allegedly financing the operation. Prosecutors had asked for the death penalty for both. Jerry Hermawan Lo, another businessman who was accused of introducing the hit men to Wizar, received the lightest sentence of five years. Prosecutors had asked for 15 years.

Indonesian plane makes emergency landing in Borneo

Asian Defense News: JAKARTA, Indonesia AP - Friday, February 12 – A domestic passenger plane has made an emergency landing on the Indonesian side of Borneo island due to engine trouble, injuring one person on board.
Sepinggan Airport spokesman Ariyanto said the turboprop plane operated by the privately run Trigana Air was carrying 47 passengers and five crew. It landed in a field in East Kalimantan Thursday.
Ariyanto, who uses a single name, says one person suffered a broken leg and others were slightly injured.
The plane was on a flight from Berau to the province's capital Samarinda.
Indonesia has one of Asia's worst aviation records due to poor maintenance, rule-bending and a shortage of properly trained pilots.

Indian president's husband accused of land-grab: reports

Asian Defense News: NEW DELHI (AFP) AFP - Friday, February 12- – Indian President Pratibha Patil's husband has been accused of illegally procuring land belonging to a farmer in western India, reports said Thursday.
The allegations came to light when a court in the president's home state of Maharashtra ordered the names of Patil's husband Devisingh Shekhawat, and five other family members, to be struck off the local land records, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
The order came in response to a petition filed by farmer Kishore Bansod, who said the Shekhawats had fraudulently added their names to the title deed of a 3.2 acre (1.3 hectare) site he had refused to sell them.
"The Shekhawats own almost 200 acres in the village and were interested in owning this land too," Bansod's lawyer, Sunil Gajbhiye, was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times newspaper.
"My client wasn't willing to sell the land. So the Shekhawats got it fraudulently transferred in their names."
There was no comment from the president's secretariat or India's ruling Congress party which nominated Patil for the post of president in 2007.
But Shekhawat rubbished the charges of fraud saying: "The land officers measured the land in a wrong manner and showed it as ours when my father bought it."
This is not the first time Patil has been embarrassed by accusations of corruption.
Prior to her appointment as India's first woman president, she was accused of protecting her brother in a murder probe and shielding her husband in a suicide scandal.
There were also charges of nepotism and involvement in a slew of financial scams.

China says it has 'no dissidents'

Asian Defense News: BEIJING (AFP) - – China declared Thursday it had "no dissidents", just hours after a Beijing court upheld an 11-year jail term for one of the country's top pro-democracy voices.
"There are no dissidents in China," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters at a regular news briefing.
Ma made the comment in answer to a question about leading Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, whose appeal of his conviction on subversion charges was denied early Thursday. Related article: China upholds jail for dissident
When asked to elaborate, Ma said: "In China, you can judge yourself whether such a group exists. But I believe this term is questionable in China."
Activists have said the treatment of Liu, who co-authored a bold petition calling for political change, is just one example of what they say is an increasing Chinese crackdown on dissent in the country.
On Tuesday, Chinese activist Tan Zuoren was jailed for five years for subversion, his lawyer said, after he probed whether shoddy construction linked to offical corruption caused school collapses in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
Liu's case has sparked calls around the world for his release, and the upholding of his sentence on appeal triggered swift US and EU condemnation Thursday.
China has numerous dissidents fighting for various causes who face the constant threat of jail or even physical attacks by authorities.
In one case, activist lawyer Gao Zhisheng has not been seen or heard from since he was taken into custody in February 2009, rights groups have said.
US-based Christian rights group ChinaAid said recently the police officer who detained Gao had told the attorney's brother that Gao had been "missing" since September 25, sparking concern he may have died in custody.

(AFP - Friday, February 12)

China upholds jail term for leading dissident

Asian Defense News: BEIJING (AFP) - – A Beijing court on Thursday upheld on appeal an 11-year prison term against leading Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo on subversion charges, triggering swift US and EU condemnation.
Washington and Brussels called for the immediate release of the 54-year-old Liu, a writer and onetime professor who was first detained in December 2008 after co-authoring a bold manifesto calling for political reform in China.
The United States also hit out at what it called the "persecution" of individuals for expressing their political views, saying it was inconsistent with globally recognised human rights standards.
"The sentence was confirmed," one of Liu's attorneys, Shang Baojun, told AFP after a brief hearing at the Beijing High People's Court.
The initial December conviction of Liu, who was previously jailed over the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests, also sparked international condemnation and even some domestic criticism. Facts: Key Chinese dissidents convictions
Last month, four retired Communist Party officials signed an open letter to the government calling for a review of Liu's case, suggesting his conviction violated some of the principles for which they had fought.
The charge of "inciting subversion of state power", which was also related to anti-government articles written by Liu that were posted online, is commonly brought against those who voice opposition to the ruling party.
The dissident's wife Liu Xia, who was in court Thursday, told AFP she was not surprised by the verdict.
"I had prepared myself," she said, adding she had been allowed to visit her husband in detention after the hearing.
"He was doing well. We didn't talk about the case. He asked me what I was doing for (Chinese) New Year, that kind of thing."
US ambassador Jon Huntsman said in a statement after the ruling that Washington was disappointed and lamented what he called the persecution of citizens expressing their political views. Related article: China says has no dissidents
"We believe that he should not have been sentenced in the first place and should be released immediately," he said.
"Persecution of individuals for the peaceful expression of political views is inconsistent with internationally-recognised norms of human rights."
Simon Sharpe, an official from the European Union delegation in China, told reporters at the courthouse that the EU was also calling for Liu's unconditional release.
The EU also urged Beijing to "end the harassment and detention of other signatories of Charter 08" -- which called for the overhaul of China's one-party communist system and the protection of human rights.
According to China Human Rights Defenders, an activist network, more than 10,000 people have signed the petition, which has been widely circulated on the Internet.
In Hong Kong, a Chinese territory which runs on a different political system, a dozen activists -- outnumbered three-to-one by police -- protested and called for Liu's release.
The group taped a letter with its demands on a railing outside the central government liaison office, the body responsible for the city's ties with Beijing, after officials refused to accept its petition.
Rights group Amnesty International said that by upholding Liu's verdict, the court had "missed an opportunity to right the wrong."
"The message is clear -- if you criticise the system outside the parameters set by the authorities or independently try to organise civil society, you will be stopped," said Roseann Rife, the group's Asia-Pacific deputy director.
When Liu was convicted in December, China had slammed the West for meddling, saying the case -- which included a trial that lasted just half a day -- had been "handled in strict accordance with the law".

(AFP - Friday, February 12)