The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim, an incumbent member of the Parliament of Malaysia, and to the resolution adopted at its 189th session (October 2011),

Recalling that Mr. Ibrahim was being prosecuted, for the second time, on a charge of sodomy under Section 377B of the Malaysian Penal Code and that the proceedings raised serious questions regarding the fairness of the trial,

                   Referring also to the first trial observer report submitted by Mr. Mark Trowell QC, in August 2010 (CL/187/12(b)-R.2), to his second report, submitted in March 2011, and to the comments provided thereon by the Malaysian delegation to the 124th IPU Assembly (CL/188/13(b)‑R.3); noting that Mr. Trowell responded to the comments of the Malaysian delegation in another report and has since provided the Committee with reports on the proceedings in this case, which he observed in June, August and September 2011 and January 2012,

Considering that: in his verdict of 9 January 2012 acquitting Mr. Ibrahim, the judge concluded that, after going through the evidence, the court could not be absolutely certain that the DNA samples had not been compromised and that it was therefore not safe to rely on them as evidence; this left the court with nothing but the alleged victim’s uncorroborated testimony and, as this was a sexual crime, it was reluctant to convict on that basis alone; the Attorney General has lodged an appeal, which is pending,

1. Takes note with great interest of Mr. Ibrahim's acquittal at first instance;

2. Recalls its previous concerns about the proceedings to which Mr. Ibrahim was subjected, in particular regarding their timing, the implication of members of the prosecution team who were involved in the first sodomy trial, the meeting between the alleged victim and then Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, the liaison between the alleged victim and a member of the prosecution team and the refusal of the trial judge to admit defence petitions for the disclosure of vital prosecution evidence;

3. Believes, therefore, that it is essential to monitor the appeal proceedings closely and requests the Committee to pay particularly close attention to observance of respect for the procedure and the rights of the defence, including by exploring the possibility of sending a trial observer;

4. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the parliamentary authorities, to Mr. Ibrahim and to his defence team;

5. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and to report to it at its next session, to be held during the 127th IPU Assembly (October 2012).

Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 126th IPU Assembly and related meetings" in PDF format (file size 910 Kb approximately). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

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