Jailed ex-deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim believes he has basis to prove malice against media companies whose recent reports linked him to terrorism financiers, his lawyer said today.

Sankara Nair told malaysiakini that SBS had "acted irresponsibly" when they failed to get Anwar's side of the story by contacting his family members or lawyers before airing the report on its Dateline programme last Wednesday.

"They ran the story unilaterally without clarifying (with) or interviewing Anwar or (his wife) Dr Wan Azizah (Wan Ismail) or (his daughter) Nurul Izzah or at least his lawyers," Nair said when contacted today.

"We know that they had the opportunity at all time because the journalist Ginny Stein was in Malaysia interviewing other people for the report. This is a clear indication of malice and (their) intention to defame Anwar. This was both irresponsible and reckless."

Dateline

had broadcast a report to an Australia-wide audience on Malaysia's purported role as a financial hub for terrorist organisations and touched on Anwar's supposed links to "hardline Muslim fundamentalists".

Based on a transcript of the report, the 'Anwar link' was alleged by US-based terrorism consultancy Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) executive director Rita Katz. She cited Anwar's role as a former board member of the Washington-based International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), which has been subjected to investigations.

The programme also linked Free Anwar Campaign (FAC) to Muslim groups under US investigation for funding terrorist activities.

Action soon

Nair said the defamation suit would be filed soon at the Kuala Lumpur High Court because the alleged offence was also committed in Malaysia via several local newspapers which published a Bernama report on the Dateline programme.

"The (Malaysian) laws allow us to serve it out of jurisdiction to a foreign defendant. (Since the report was highlighted in the local media) the tort of libel was also committed in Malaysia by extension from the programme aired in Australia," he explained.

Further, he added, Anwar's incarceration (for a sodomy offence) has made it impossible for him to institute court action in Australia.

Nair also said he would be working closely with an Australian barrister appointed by Rahim Ghouse - an international representative of FAC in Australia- whose name was also mentioned in report.

"Rahim has instructed his lawyer to file a similar suit in Australia against SBS," he said.

'Irresponsible reporting'

Anwar also plans to take similar action against Bernama and three local dailies - New Straits Times (NST), Berita Harian (BH) and The Star - which publicised the report.

Nair said they had failed to treat the Dateline report with extra caution considering that it "contained damaging and highly controversial information against a former senior government official and a reputable person in the Muslim world".

He said the local press should have sought immediate clarification from Anwar or his representatives and published this alongside the Bernama report.

"Instead, the sinister manner in which the episode was portrayed as the lead story with a damaging headline in the NST, BH and The Star indicated - directly or by innuendo - the malignant motive of the publications," he said.

"Based on this, they have caused damage beyond repair to his reputation."

In addition, clarifications by Anwar and Wan Azizah, reported on the next day, were not published in full, thereby adding to the act of defamation, Sankara said.

Bernama

, meanwhile, is accused of "adding untrue information" to its report that was not mentioned in the Dateline programme.

"For example, it claimed that Nurul Izzah received a education sponsorship total of RM300,000 from IIIT - this is a false and concocted figure," Nair added.

Yesterday, Wan Azizah had said the money came from friends of the family who wanted to help out, after Anwar was sacked from office in 1998 and subsequently jailed for corruption and sodomy.