Malaysian Opposition Leader Pleads Not Guilty to Sodomy Charge

The 62-year denies the charge, which he says is a plot to end his democratic challenge to a government which has ruled the Southeast Asian country for 52 years.

In a court packed with journalists, Anwar supporters and foreign diplomats, one of Anwar's daughters shouted "repent" at former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan as he entered the room.

Saiful identified Anwar as the person who had sodomised him in June 2008, saying the he had demanded sex in a condominium in uptown Kuala Lumpur.

"I was angry and afraid," Saiful told the court.

"I rejected his offer. I said I didn't want to do it," he said as the court proceedings were brought to an end with the defence lawyers asking for the case to proceed in camera.

After Saiful's comments, two of Anwar's daughters reached to support their father while his wife put her arms around the daughters.

All homosexual acts are illegal in mainly Muslim Malaysia and Anwar was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to nine years in jail in 2000 in a trial that drew widespread condemnation, although the charge was later quashed.

(...) Anwar's case is likely to turn on disputed DNA evidence and medical testimony that his lawyers say is contradictory and which they have not been given access to.