Malaysia's Anwar says he may be charged with sodomy

Malaysia's opposition figurehead Anwar Ibrahim insisted Wednesday he will fight a by-election later this year and form a new government despite fears he will soon be charged with sodomy.

"There are thousands of criminal cases not properly investigated. Why pursue this with zeal and in an unjust way? Is it because I will participate in a by-election," Anwar told reporters.

"You want me to withdraw? No. I will continue to pursue the change. Let's see if they want to charge me," he said after being interviewed by Islamic sharia enforcement officials over the sodomy allegations.

The former deputy prime minister admitted that his family and friends will undergo the same suffering they experienced in 1998 if he is "victimised, arrested and jailed."

Anwar has said the allegations of a young male aide, a repeat of charges that saw him jailed a decade ago, have been fabricated to block his plans to topple the coalition that has ruled Malaysia for half a century.

He has demanded that police stop the investigation and called the aide, 23-year-old Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, an "outright liar" who was working with others in power to frame him.

Police, however, have said they will continue sodomy investigations on Anwar despite a leaked medical report which he said had vindicated him as it showed no evidence that his accuser was sodomised.

A senior hospital official Wednesday said the report "looks genuine" and said the doctor who examined Saiful was not a specialist.

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the medical report was part of a whole chain of evidence which police were investigating, the Star daily reported.

"We have to let the police complete their investigations, submit their investigating papers to the prosecutor and let the prosecutor decide if there is a case," the home minister was quoted as saying by the newspaper Wednesday.

Sodomy even between consenting adults is a crime punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment in mostly Muslim Malaysia.

Anwar aims to return to parliament for the first time in a decade if a court orders a by-election near his home town -- the next step in his political rehabilitation after being sacked in 1998 and later jailed on sodomy and corruption charges.

A high court in Kedah state will hear a challenge on August 19, asking it to invalidate the result in a seat that was won by his Keadilan party in March 8 general elections.

Anwar described the police investigations as a "political vendetta" against him and reminded the security authorities that Malaysia was not a "police state."

"They accuse me of being a person planted by the Americans. They accuse me of wanting to sell this country to China. I advise the police to probe (the allegations) based on facts," he said.

Agence France-Presse - 7/30/2008 11:21 AM GMT