a) On October 5, 1998, Anwar Ibrahim was charged in the High Court, Kuala Lumpur, on 5 counts of corruption [under section 2(1) of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance No 22, 19701 and 5 counts of sodomy [under section 377B of the Penal Code]. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges and asked f6r trial. The Deputy Public Prosecutor informed the Court that the first 4 charges Could be tried (jointly) while the rest would be stayed. However, well before his hearing, there has been unprecedented trial by the Malaysian media, where maximum coverage has been given to speeches/statements made by the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers and UMNO leaders saying that Anwar is immoral and is not fit to be the Deputy Prime Minister of the country. A former Inspector-General of Police conveniently revealed in public recently that his officers had gathered evidence of Anwar's homsexuality as far back as 1993. However the former AttorneyGeneral who was holding office at that time said that he was never informed of any such conduct on the part of Anwar by the police then.

b) An example of the prejudicial material against Anwar's case in the media is the press statement made by the Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, on September 22, 1998. In this statement he said:

“It is quite true that a lot of people still believe in him. I must say even for me it took me years to believe allegations made against him. First time I was told about him was by the previous IGP Hanif. I dismissed it as a false allegation. Subsequently, I was told last year about him. I dismissed this and I said this is out of sheer jealousy for my man who is going to be a leader of the party. I had concrete proof that it was true, before I could leave (sic) but other people cannot very well get that kind of information that I got. I actually interviewed the people who were sodomised, the women whom he had sex with, the driver who brought the women to the place.”

c) The statement made by Dr Mahathir Mohamad on September 22, 1998 included this remark:

“We also have proof of his corruption. But I'm not interested in that. I cannot accept a sodomist to be a leader of this country.”