Karpal ill, so government’s appeal against Anwar’s acquittal likely to be adjourned

The government’s appeal tomorrow against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal of sodomy is expected to be adjourned to another date as his lead counsel Karpal Singh is hospitalised.

“We will be making an application for an adjournment as Karpal is unwell. He is currently admitted at the hospital for joint problems and is expected to be there for the next two to three days,” co-counsel Ramkarpal Singh told The Malaysian Insider today.

“We do not know when the next date will be.”

The government’s appeal was expected to be heard at the Putrajaya Court of Appeal tomorrow.

Anwar was found innocent by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in January last year on charges of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan at the Desa Damansara condominium between 3.10pm and 4.30pm in June 26, 2008.

High Court judge Datuk Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah acquitted Anwar after ruling that DNA samples were tampered with.

Twenty-seven prosecution witnesses and seven defence witnesses testified at the trial, which spanned more than three years. Anwar himself testified.

The case was highly publicised not only because of the charges but also because of other incidents, quite notably the one involving solicitor-general II Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden.

After the trial ended, Mohd Yusof, who led the prosecution team, retired early last year and entered private practice.

Subsequently, he stunned everyone by turning up as one of Anwar’s defence counsels in another case where the latter was charged with participating in an allegedly illegal Bersih 3.0 assembly.