Gore stands by Anwar, hits out at Malaysian justice 

WASHINGTON, Aug 9 (AFP) - US Vice President Al Gore risked igniting a new confrontation with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad Wednesday, branding the trial of ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim as a mockery of justice.
"I am deeply disturbed by the verdicts handed down in Malaysia in the case of Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his adopted brother," Gore said in a statement issued from his Washington office.

"The show trial the two men were forced to endure mocked international standards of justice," said Gore, who enraged Mahathir in 1998 with his close interest in the Anwar affair.

"These verdicts are politically motivated and designed to remove Anwar from the political arena indefinitely."

A judge in Kuala Lumpur jailed Anwar for nine years for sodomy on Tuesday -- a sentence which will run on from a previous prison term imposed for a corruption conviction and could keep him behind bars until 2014.

Gore, who is running for president in November's US election, provoked a fiery exchange with Mahathir in 1998 when he said during an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Malaysia that he was "troubled" by Anwar's allegations that he had been beaten up in jail.

Mahathir responded with a stinging attack on the vice president four months after Gore made the comment and other remarks in which he warned Malaysia against stifling dissent.

"We should fry him. Al Gore does not love Malaysia nor its people. Al Gore and his government only wants to manipulate and control our country," the premier said at a rally in northern Malaysia's Kedah state.

In his statement on Wednesday, Gore listed details of the trial, which he said did nothing to "allay international concerns about the independence of the Malaysian judicial system."

Deficiencies included alleged police coaching of opposition witnesses and efforts to intimidate Anwar's lawyers, he said.

"In the interest of justice and fairness, I hope the appeals process will overturn these verdicts."

Gore's remarks were in line with the official US reaction to the verdict issued by the State Department on Tuesday.

"The United States is very distressed by the convictions of the former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, and his adopted brother on sodomy charges," said departmental spokesman Richard Boucher.

Anwar and Sukma Darmawan, his 39-year-old adopted brother, were convicted of sodomising Azizan Abu Bakar, a former Anwar family chauffeur, between January and March 1993.

Mahathir on Wednesday defended the conviction and denied there was any political conspiracy to oust his former deputy.

In comments on the ruling UMNO party's website, Mahathir said Anwar was convicted and jailed for so long "because the court thinks that is the right punishment."

"It is a normal trial, there is no conspiracy. It is impossible in Malaysia to have a conspiracy on such an extent involving literally hundreds of people," the premier said.