Former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan is unperturbed by veteran lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah's urging for her to be cited for contempt of court.

"I am not intimidated in the slightest by the urging by Shafee for the attorney-general to charge me for contempt.

"I have no problems facing it if indeed it comes to pass that I am charged. Let the truth emerge," she said in a statement today.

Ambiga was responding to Shafee who took issue with her comment during a forum held at the Malaysiakini office last week that BN had made a mistake by having opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim jailed.

He had said Ambiga's comment was tantamount to suggesting that the court is a branch of BN and she should therefore be charged with contempt.

Shafee, who was engaged by the Attorney-General's Chambers to prosecute Anwar, has been on a media blitz after successfully putting the opposition leader behind bars.

Responding to this, Ambiga said Shafee's incessant attacks against Anwar, if not also amounting to contempt, are contemptible.

"The incessant barrage of comments by his post-judgement are a disservice to the administration of justice and the attorney-general.

"Whether or not these statements amount to a contempt, there is no doubt that the personal attacks on someone who is in jail and cannot defend himself, are contemptible," she said.

Ambiga added that she has never seen anyone from the AG Chambers behave like Shafee.

"There are some troubling questions. How do these personal attacks on Anwar, impinge on the independence of the AG Chambers in prosecuting the case?  

"If the fiat has terminated, can Shafee continue to speak for the chambers? Can he give instructions to the attorney-general?" said Ambiga.

In the interviews, Shafee had mocked Anwar and his supporters for claiming that the Sodomy II case is a political conspiracy.

The Federal Court last Tuesday upheld Anwar's conviction for sodomy and five-year jail sentence.

Anwar, who maintains the charge is politically motivated, is serving his sentence at Sungai Buloh prison.

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