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Minister Taken To Task By Anwar's Wife
by Kazi Mahmood
KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 (IslamOnline) - In a media statement issued Tuesday night by Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, leader of the National Justice Party (N JP), the Minister of foreign affairs, Syed Hamid Albar, is accused of misleading the media and the people over the Anwar Ibrahim overseas medical treatment case.
Earlier the Minister said to local media that Anwar Ibrahim had agreed not to seek overseas treatment over a back injury sustained while he was incarcerated and beaten by former police chief Abd. Rahim Noor.
The Minister also alluded that Anwar had received special treatment above that normally granted to prisoners.
"I had to explain [to the U.N. in Geneva] that although Anwar is not allowed to go overseas, he has been given medical treatment, over and above that usually accorded to prisoners," Albar said.
Wan Azizah Wan Ismail issued her statement after Anwar Ibrahim urged his lawyers to respond to the statement made by the Minister.
"There is no special treatment given to my husband. The Minister was misleading when he made the statement. It is not uncommon for such statements coming from ministers of the ruling government as can be seen in the whole affair when my husband was brutally assaulted by the former Inspector General of Police," the NJP leader wrote.
In stronger terms, she reiterated that at no point did Anwar agree with the government's conditions as stated by Syed Hamid Albar. "Indeed, am shocked with the Minister's statement where he appears to be grossly misinformed.
She also denied that it was not Anwar's request to go overseas but was wholly based on Thomas Hoogland's, a German physician, recommendations and was purely on medical grounds and there is nothing political.
"At no point did Anwar agree with the government's conditions as stated by the Minister," Wan Azizah said.
For his part, Anwar Ibrahim reiterated through his lawyers that he never agreed with the government's conditions.
"Indeed the Minister's statement is grossly misleading and misconceived," the lawyers said.
"Anwar is shocked and amazed with the Minister's statement," they added.
The lawyers said Anwar did receive an agreement letter from the Sungei Buloh Prison's department. He, however, amended the letter before signing it. The letter was faxed to IslamOnline, showing the amendments made by Anwar himself.
Anwar deleted parts where the Officer in Charge of Prisons at Sungei Buloh, wrote that the jailed leader should agree that the treatment should be done in Kuala Lumpur and not overseas.
Syed Albar blamed foreign media for inaccurate reporting causing other countries to have a "mistaken impression" on Anwar Ibrahim's medical condition.
He also added that Malaysia had come under "extreme, tremendous pressure" as a result of these press reports, saying that the media had turned it into a political issue.
At the U.N., Mary Robinson, the commissioner for Human Rights, queried the Minister on why Anwar was denied treatment overseas.
He added that it was unreasonable for any country to transfer prisoners overseas for surgery.
Anwar is serving a 15-year jail term, having been found guilty of abuse of power and sodomy. He and his party flatly reject the charges. saying that it is part of a plot by people close to Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad to jeopardize his political career.
Anwar was sacked, jailed and brought to court with a black eye, the result of an assault while in detention, which the Prime Minister of Malaysia at first denied.
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