Anwar does not need to swear on Quran, says Hadi

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang rejected today calls for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to swear on the Quran that he is not the man in a sex video that surfaced yesterday.

He pointed out that only a Syariah court could compel the opposition leader to do so.

“If you want him to swear then you have to follow Syariah. Only this court can decide whether he must take such an oath. I call for this case to be heard before a Syariah court,” he said of his Pakatan Rakyat (PR) colleague.

Anwar has denied that he is the man in the video who was shown having sex with an unidentified woman.

The video was screened to selected journalists yesterday by a man, who identified himself as “Datuk T.”

“Datuk T” called for the PKR de facto leader and his wife PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to resign.

“Datuk T” had said that the video was taken from closed-circuit television camera recordings found in a hotel room in Kuala Lumpur on February 21.

Abdul Hadi also implied that asking Anwar as a Muslim to swear to his innocence based on a video shown secretly in a hotel would belittle Islam.

“Where was it shown? In a hotel. It’s just drama. It should be seen from that perspective,” he said.

The Marang MP said that the case of the sex video should be brought before the Syariah court “as there is no separation of powers between the civil courts, politics and the government.”

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had sworn on the Quran in 2008 that he did not know Mongolian Altantuya Shariibuu, who was murdered and blown up with C4 explosives in 2006.

The same year, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan had also sworn on the Quran that Anwar had sodomised him, a charge that is currently being heard in court.

However, Anwar had refused to take a similar oath, with PR leaders saying that swearing on a Quran was unIslamic.

Abdul Hadi also said that according to the Quran, one must examine carefully any accusation against another man’s moral character and reject it if there is any doubt.

“Islam requires four fair and honourable witnesses... we must ask, who filmed it, how they got the equipment and who released it. The video does not qualify to be true information,” he said.

Anwar had lodged a police report earlier today and told reporters later that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein were involved in what he says was a an attack on him and Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

“These individuals have committed all forms of crime — criminal defamation, intimidation, and the viewing of pornography in public.

“My proof of high-level involvement is that why no action was taken by the police on this? How can porn be displayed publicly? It’s protection by the police,” he said.

Section 292(a) of the Penal Code prohibits the production, sale, rental, distribution and public circulation of any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, drawing, painting, representation or object.

- themalaysianinsider