Anwar's indignity of soiled bedding case rests on bedding

IN THE LATEST bizarre development in the trial of Anwar Ibrahim, prosecutors will today exhibit a semen-stained mattress upon which the Malaysian opposition leader allegedly conducted an adulterous affair.

A senior officer from the Malaysian Criminal Investigation Department testified yesterday that a mattress and pillow had been removed from an apartment complex in Kuala Lumpur where Mr Anwar, then the country's deputy prime minister, is accused of having had sex with the wife of his former private secretary.

He has been charged with abusing his power as a minister to suppress allegations of adultery, as well as five counts of sodomy.

"On the mattress I found several patches believed to be seminal fluid," Musa Hassan, deputy director of the CID, told the court, to sniggers from the public gallery. He said laboratory tests were being conducted to determine the origins of the semen, though the results were not revealed yesterday.

Allegations about Mr Anwar's affair with his secretary's wife were first made public over the summer in a book entitled Fifty Reasons Why Anwar Cannot Become Prime Minister.`

The book's author, who is himself being prosecuted for spreading "false news", claimed a daughter born to the woman was fathered by Anwar. But an earlier set of DNA tests appeared to have disproved that claim.

Ever since being sacked byPrime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, on grounds of immorality, Mr Anwar has insisted that he is the victim of a political conspiracy.

Early on - in an attempt to prove Mr Anwar abused his power, the head of Malaysia's special branch told the court that police intimidate witnesses for political reasons.

Last week, the court heard lurid testimony from Mr Anwar's former chauffeur who described his employer's "animal" lust during their homosexual trysts; later, he apparently admitted that they never took place.

One of Mr Anwar's defence lawyers narrowly avoided going to jail, after the judge, Augustine Paul, found him guilty of contempt of court. Judge Paul made a similar warning yesterday after the chief defence lawyer, Christopher Fernando, alleged "a systematic campaign" against his client.