Munawar to apply to Court of Appeal again

Dr Munawar A Anees plans to re-apply to the Court of Appeal after the Federal Court quashed his appeal against his sodomy conviction on Oct 30.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, the former speech writer for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said: "I was advised to apply to the Court of Appeal to set right the injustice perpetrated against me for over a decade."

"Unfortunately, my latest request for a review at the Federal Court was dismissed last month (and) no grounds were handed down," added the 60-year-old Pakistani-American writer.

Last month, the three-member panel led by Chief Justice Zaki Azmi, who sat with Federal Court judges Nik Hashim Nik Abdul Rahman and Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin unanimously threw out his case, with "the grounds will be handed down later".

In 1998, the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court had sentenced Munawar to six months jail after he pleaded guilty to allowing Anwar to sodomise him at the latter’s house in Jalan Setia Murni, Bukit Damansara, in March 1993.

He was charged alongside Anwar’s adopted brother, Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja, who
also pleaded guilty to the same charge and was sentenced to six months’ jail.

However, in a statutory declaration issued 10 years ago, Munawar claimed that he had been forced to confess following brutal mental and physical torture by the Special Branch while he was in detention.

Munawar has served his sentence but had filed the appeal in a bid to clear his name.