Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said he underwent a "degrading" physical examination after being arrested in 2008 on sodomy charges.

NONE "After checking my upper part, they asked me to undress, to measure my private parts and measure my pubic hair, which was very degrading. They examined my penis and anus," he said, giving evidence for the first time in his High Court trial.

The former deputy prime minister said he was arrested by armed police who treated him like an al-Qaeda agent.

"On the way to my house... we saw an unmarked vehicle blocking the road, with other police vehicles and patrol cars. And 10 to 15 special forces wearing balaclavas and carrying sub-machine guns," he said.

Anwar said police did not inform him why he was being arrested.

"I was not told what was the offence. I was dragged like an al-Qaeda agent - police armed with machine guns and there were so many policemen, you call that a normal arrest?" he said.

Former aide Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan has accused Anwar - a 63-year-old father of six - of sodomising him at an upmarket Kuala Lumpur condominium in 2008. If convicted, Anwar could face up to 20 years in prison.

Dirty cell

The prosecution said at the opening of the trial in February last year that traces of Anwar's semen were found in medical tests on Saiful.

The sodomy trial, which resumed last month after a three-month hiatus, has heard evidence from a government chemist that there were multiple unidentified DNA profiles found in Mohamad Saiful's anus and trousers.

NONE Anwar who was detained on July 16, 2008 and freed the following day, said he was kept in a dirty cell and made to sleep on a cold floor.

Sodomy, even among consenting adults, is illegal in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

Anwar has said he is the victim of a plot to prevent him from taking power after the opposition made huge strides in 2008 elections, stunning the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, which has been in power for half a century.

The former deputy premier was sacked and jailed a decade ago on separate sodomy and corruption charges widely seen as politically motivated.

Human Rights Watch has urged Malaysia to drop the charges, condemning the case as a "charade of justice". Malaysia pledged that Anwar would receive a fair trial after talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last year.

- AFP