Anwar says he's not getting a fair trial

Anwar Ibrahim has cried foul that the court is not giving him a fair trial in the sodomy charge against him.

He cited instances of the police preventing his lawyers from interviewing potential defence witnesses and the court 'pre-judging' him in ruling that complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan is a "truthful and credible witness".

Anwar ( left ) also denied that his third unsuccessful attempt to recuse trial judge Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah is a delaying tactic by his team.

"All I want is a fair trial which I am entitled to, but so far it has not been accorded to me," he said.

"The judge has pre-judged against me in ruling the complainant as a truthful and credible witness. This is despite the court having yet to witness what I have to say in my defence."

Anwar said these legal issues are fundamental in any legal system worldwide.

"This is a blatant disregard of the law ... I am entitled to ... a fair trial," he said.

That is why, continued Anwar, he has applied for a fresh trial as it seems the judge had already made up his mind.

Anwar said throughout the three-week break since the judge’s decision to call his defence, his team of lawyers had applied to interview 25 witnesses from the prosecution’s list, but have only managed to interview five.

He said one cannot expect him to take the stand without having all these witnesses interviewed

"You want me to testify and defend... against what? We need the witnesses for our case," he said.

The defence had applied for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak ( left ) and his wife Rosmah Mansor to be among the defence witnesses.

The prosecution had given the defence a list of 71 witnesses, of who lead defence counsel Karpal Singh and lawyer Sankara Nair want to call 25.

The list includes the 27 witnesses whom the prosecution had called in the first portion of the trial.

The police, who were to have facilitated their meeting with the requested witnesses, only supplied them with five, none of who are material witnesses, said Karpal.

'No delaying tacti c '

Karpal denied the prosecution's assertion that this was a delaying tactic as it was the prosecution and police who had not provided the witnesses needed by the defence.

Solicitor-General II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden ( right ), in ending his submission had said the application should be dismissed as it was made without merit and is directed to delay and derail the trial.

"It is hard to imagine this application is bona fide . If Anwar is truthful he would seize the opportunity to tell his version to the public," he said.

Karpal said the court has already issued a directive to the police to prepare the necessary witnesses to be interviewed.

"The statement of the witnesses have yet to be recorded by us. I think the police are not serious enough in getting them to us," said Karpal.

He hoped that the police would make serious efforts to call the remaining witnesses especially Najib, Rosmah, former police chief Musa Hassan and former Malacca police chief Mohd Rodwan Mohd Yusoff.

The defence has so far interviewed Pusrawi doctor Dr Mohd Othman Abdul Hamid, the first physician to examine Saiful.

Others include former national athlete Mumtaz Jaafar, to whom Saiful related the alleged sodomy; former special officer to Najib when he was deputy premier, Khairil Annas Jusoh, who had met with Saiful; a medical officer at Hospital Kuala Lumpur identified only as 'Dr Daniel'; and Saiful's sister, Saidati.

Musa and Rodwan were scheduled to be interviewed last Friday but did not turn up and did not provide any reasons either.

Sodomy II: Anwar fails in attempt to disqualify judge

No merit, so I'll keep hearing case, rules judge