Subject: Anwar a#sociates tortured to confess, lawyer says in court Newsgroups: soc.culture.malaysia

Anwar a#sociates tortured to confess, lawyer says in court

Testifying for Anwar at his s###my trial, the lawyer says both aides endured "cla#sic interrogation tactics'

KUALA LUMPUR -- A lawyer for two a#sociates of former Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim told the High Court yesterday that police threatened one of them with death and ""mentally destroyed'' the other to frame Anwar in a sex scandal.

Mr Manjeet Singh Dhillon represented Anwar's speechwriter Munawar Anees and businessman friend S. Nallakaruppan in criminal trials in 1998.

He said both endured ""cla#sic interrogation tactics'' by the Special Branch.

The lawyer, testifying for Anwar at his s###my trial, also claimed top prosecutor Abdul Gani Patail led a plot by the Attorney-General's office to fabricate sex charges against Anwar.

Mr Manjeet said Nallakaruppan, detained for illegal possession of bullets a month before Anwar's sacking, was charged with an offence punishable by death.

He was told he would be freed if he framed Anwar.

""The Special Branch wanted him to become a witness for them, to give evidence against Anwar.

""They wanted him to lie and implicate Anwar with fictitious women.''

Prosecutors have accused, but not charged, Anwar of having sex with women and prostitutes.

Mr Manjeet wrote to the Attorney-General's office, asking that Nallakaruppan's case be reconsidered. Datuk Gani called him in for a talk.

""What transpired was a blatant attempt by Gani Patail to extort and blackmail evidence out of a man by using his life as a bargaining chip,'' Mr Manjeet said.

Datuk Gani, who was not in the courtroom, has led the prosecution for most of the time during Anwar's corruption and s###my trials.

Mr Manjeet said: ""Gani Patail said they were looking into matters on behalf of the Prime Minister. He said he wanted evidence from Nallakaruppan concerning women with Anwar.

""He couldn't settle on the number of women he wanted to implicate him with and went from two to three and finally settled on five.'''

Nallakaruppan refused to comply. The charge against him was reduced and he was jailed for 18 months for possessing bullets.

Mr Manjeet said Munawar, a Pakistani, was interrogated non-stop for five days until he hallucinated.

""They stripped him naked, made him lie on the floor and simulate imagined sex with Anwar,'' he said.

Munawar served a jail term of six months when he pleaded guilty at a trial in 1998 to being s###mised by Anwar. He later said his plea was coerced. --Reuters