Mahathir Wins Legal Fight Against Anwar
Wednesday July 4, 9:58 PM
Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday lost his bid to take former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to court for calling him a homosexual, an accusation that landed Anwar in jail for six years.
A High Court judge ruled Anwar's defamation lawsuit was "unsustainable" because the court in 1999 dismissed a similar suit Anwar brought against Mahathir.
Mahathir first accused Anwar of homosexuality in 1998 when he fired Anwar as his deputy prime minister after Anwar challenged the prime minister's authority. Anwar was tried for corruption and sodomy and convicted after a trial he says was designed to curtail his political ascent.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released in September 2004 after the sodomy conviction was overturned.
Neither Mahathir nor Anwar were in court Wednesday.
Anwar's lawyer, Sankara Nair, described Anwar as "quite upset" by the judge's refusal to let the defamation lawsuit proceed. "The only way to know the truth is through a trial," the lawyer said.
Mahathir retired in 2003 after 22 years in office, handing over the reins to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Anwar filed a second defamation lawsuit against Mahathir in January 2006 after Mahathir insisted at a human rights seminar that he had a moral and social duty to fire Anwar because it was "unacceptable" to have a homosexual in his Cabinet.
Anwar's corruption conviction bars him from running in general elections or holding political office until April 2008. His People's Justice Party is now headed by his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Anwar was Mahathir's deputy for five years until their partnership cracked amid policy disputes during the Asian financial crisis.
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