Paperback: On 9 January 2012, Anwar Ibrahim was acquitted of charges of sodomy against his then 23-year-old aide, Mohd Saiful. Anwar's trial lasted almost two years with many delays and appeals to the superior courts. The weeks before High Court Judge Mohd Diah Zabidin delivered his verdict were full of expectation and speculation. Most observers and lawyers even Anwar himself were convinced that he would be found guilty of sodomy. The acquittal was a shock not only to Anwar who expected to go to jail but to most international observers who were convinced he would be found guilty.
This book recounts the events of the trial as reported by eminent QC Mark Trowell who observed the trial on behalf of LAWASIA, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the International Commission of Jurists, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and Union Internationale des Advocats from January 2010 until its conclusion two years later.
Sodomy II (2012) is "contemporaneous and incisive account of a political trial disguised as a criminal case" and "a well written and readable account of extraordinary events that are of significance to Malaysia, its laws and politics."
About the author: Mark Trowell QC is a leading criminal lawyer based in Western Australia. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2000. Despite some time in commercial and common law, he was ultimately attracted to the challenge of the criminal law. He has been retained to act for many of the big names in Australia (including international art critic Robert Hughes, legendary Sydney nightclub identity Abe Saffron and iron-ore magnate Gina Rinehart), but has also been ever ready to take on the case of the man in the street.
He has prosecuted criminal cases for the Director of Public Prosecution and has also appeared as counsel at two Royal Commissions. He was involved in negotiations at the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg on behalf of the owners of a foreign fishing vessel seized by authorities for poaching patagonian toothfish in Australian waters. In December 2006, he was appointed by the Australian Government to undertake a review of the legislation governing the Australian Crime Commission.
He is co-chair of the criminal law standing committee LAWASIA. In recent years, he has been an international observer reporting on behalf of LAWASIA, the Australian Bar Association, the International Commission of Jurists, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and the Union Internationale des Advocats. He also represented the interests of the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union at the criminal trials of Anwar Ibrahim in Malaysia and General Sarath Fonseka in Sri Lanka.
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