[ Laman Ehwal Semasa ReformIS ]
Date: 21 Aug 1999
Time: 09:23:13
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Anwar 'to be moved to small, isolated cell'
That will help the authorities monitor him and his visitors, and amount to solitary isolation, say his lawyers
KUALA LUMPUR -- Anwar Ibrahim will soon be transferred to a small, isolated cell next to the prison mortuary, according to the former Deputy Prime Minister and his lawyers.
They said the move was intended to silence and intimidate the politician.
Moving him to the 2 m by 4 m cell would give the authorities better control over what and who goes in and out of his cell and, in effect, amount to solitary confinement, his lawyers said.
Anwar had threatened recently to make public reams of documents that allegedly showed corruption at the top levels of government.
His aides said the documents -- six boxes of them, by one account -- were stashed overseas, beyond the reach of Malaysia's police.
The former minister, detained since October, has remained a powerful opponent of the government.
As the furore over the documents showed, he is still affecting Malaysian politics from behind bars.
Government ministers have suggested he and his allies be charged under Malaysia's Official Secrets Act.
Last weekend, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi ordered the police to begin an investigation into the documents.
Anwar had access to sensitive information during his seven years as Finance Minister, and he has already released several documents dealing with the allocations of shares to two prominent Malaysian ministers.
With little sympathy from the pro-government mainstream press, he has used the Internet to disseminate the documents. (Six are posted on the Internet at www.freemalaysia.com).
Speaking this week to a reporter in the courtroom where he is on trial for sodomy, he said the cell being prepared for him was separated from the rest of the prison by three steel doors.
He said he found out about the plan from sympathetic guards. -- International Herald Tribune