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Anwar quits Turkey embassy refuge | Anwar quits Turkey embassy refuge |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has left the Turkish embassy in Kuala Lumpur, where he had taken refuge on Sunday. | Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has left the Turkish embassy in Kuala Lumpur, where he had taken refuge on Sunday. |
He went to the embassy after an aide accused him of sodomy, and he said he would stay there until the government could guarantee his safety. | He went to the embassy after an aide accused him of sodomy, and he said he would stay there until the government could guarantee his safety. |
Mr Anwar, 60, denies the allegations, which he says are designed to block his political resurgence. | Mr Anwar, 60, denies the allegations, which he says are designed to block his political resurgence. |
His lawyers have now filed a libel suit against his 23-year-old male accuser. | His lawyers have now filed a libel suit against his 23-year-old male accuser. |
Mr Anwar left the embassy after a meeting between Malaysia's Foreign Minister, Rais Yatim, and Turkish ambassador Barlas Ozener. | Mr Anwar left the embassy after a meeting between Malaysia's Foreign Minister, Rais Yatim, and Turkish ambassador Barlas Ozener. |
"The ambassador is of the view that he would like Anwar to be out of the premises as soon as possible," Mr Rais said. | |
But Mr Anwar denied he had been forced out, telling the Associated Press news agency he had made the decision to leave after the government had made "all the undertakings to assure [his] personal safety". | |
'Fabrication' claim | |
Mr Anwar was Malaysia's deputy prime minister until he lost the job in 1998 and was jailed for sodomy and corruption offences - although the sodomy conviction was later overturned. | |
ANWAR IBRAHIM TIMELINE September 1998: Sacked as deputy prime minister, arrested the following day on sodomy and corruption chargesApril 1999: Jailed for six years for corruptionJuly 2000: Sentenced to further nine years for sodomySeptember 2004: Sodomy conviction overturned, freed from jailApril 2008: Ban on holding political office ends Anwar heading for another storm | |
He always maintained his innocence and said the charges against him were politically motivated. | |
A decade later he again faces a sodomy allegation - and again he says political foes are behind the accusation. | |
He dismissed the claims as lies, adding: "Certain people in the hierarchy are involved in these allegations." | |
In the general election in March, Mr Anwar led an opposition alliance to considerable gains in a poll that severely weakened the governing National Front coalition's grip on power. | |
But the government has strongly denied any involvement in the latest case against Mr Anwar. | |
"We don't have any plan to do something to him [just] because he said he has made a political comeback," Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said. |