The United States today maintained that Malaysia's former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim was wrongfully convicted of corruption and sodomy, visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell said during a press conference in Putrajaya today.

"We believe that the [trial] was flawed. The court has acted on the first charge and that is the end of the process as it envisioned in the Malaysian law. But we have always felt that the trial was flawed," Powell said in reply to a question regarding Washington's stand on the issue.

Powell, who had a discussion with Malaysia's Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar before meeting the press, also revealed that he brought up the Anwar issue in his talk with the minister.

"We had a candid discussion about this matter. One of my associates met with his wife this morning to express our interest and concern," he said.

Malaysiakini had reported earlier today that Powell will raise with the Malaysian government a number of issues relating to Anwar and the detention of six reformasi activists, including five Keadilan leaders, under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

This was conveyed to Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail by US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly, who is part of the delegation with Powell, during a 50-minute breakfast meeting this morning.

ISA discussed

Powell also paid a call on Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today.

The secretary of state who arrived in Malaysia yesterday for a brief visit is currently on a diplomatic mission to several Asian and Southeast Asian countries.

Powell has visited Pakistan and India since July 27 and will be visiting Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines after Malaysia.

While the focus of the current diplomatic mission is mainly about the US-led "war against terrorism", Powell noted that human rights issues have been discussed in his three meetings with the Malaysian leaders today.

"In the context of our counter-terrorism effort, I made a point to tell all my interlocutors that we still believe strongly in human rights and everything we do has to be consistent with the universal standards of human rights," he said, adding that the ISA, which allows indefinite detention without trial, was one of the issues discussed.

On the same issue, Syed Hamid argued that Malaysia places a lot of importance to human rights, but at the same time the country has to look at its own "national interest from the national perspective" when subscribing to universal human rights standards.

"We explained that we have never used the ISA for the purpose of frustrating our political opponents, but that it is used for the purpose of ensuring that peace and prosperity of the country is protected. If anybody takes action which will jeopardise our security, then we will take action," he said.

Rule of law

When met by journalists later, Syed Hamid admitted that Malaysia and the US have differing opinions on the Anwar issue.

"The most important thing is whether we have followed the rule of law and whether the case was fairly dealt with. One should not conclude that if a case was done in a developing country, it is necessarily not just and there is no rule of law," he said.

Syed Hamid pointed out that the former deputy prime minister was still found guilty after appealing against the verdict.

Anwar was sentenced to six years imprisonment after he was found guilty of corrupt practices and another nine years for having committed sodomy.

More than two weeks ago, the Federal Court upheld the sentence against him for corrupt practices.

"He was given the best opportunity and the best counsel that one could afford. Nobody is stopping him from defending himself. We explained that position," Syed Hamid said.

"They (US) may have a different view. I don't think our bilateral relationship should be issued on a person or a particular issue. We are looking at the bigger issue of cooperation," the foreign minister added.

At the moment, Anwar's appeal against the sodomy sentence is still pending at the Court of Appeal.