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Monday, August 30, 1999 Published at 07:43 GMT 08:43 UK

World: Asia-Pacific

Anwar loses defamation suit

The jailed ex deputy PM has been ordered to pay costs

The jailed former deputy prime minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, has suffered another legal setback - losing a defamation suit against the Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

A High Court judge rejected Mr Anwar's $26m case saying it was "frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of court process".

In April, Mr Anwar was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to six years in jail. He is now on trial again for sodomy.

He filed the defamation suit against Dr Mahathir in January, alleging his former boss had falsely and maliciously accused him of committing an immoral act.

[ image: PM Mahathir: His comments were
PM Mahathir: His comments were "statements of facts", the judge ruled
Dr Mahathir said his words were published in his capacity as prime minister and were not meant to disparage Mr Anwar.

The judge said the case brought by Mr Anwar was "obviously unsustainable" and ordered him to pay the prime minister's legal costs.

The judge said that the prime minister's words were merely statements of facts already widely published before he made them.

After Mr Anwar was sacked, Malaysian newspapers published allegations that Anwar had committed sodomy - a crime in Malaysia - and other sexual offences.

Last September, Mr Anwar's adopted brother Sukma Darmawan and speechwriter Munawar Anees pleaded guilty in a court to being sodomised by Anwar.

But the two men, each sentenced to six months in jail for the alleged sodomy, later changed their pleas, saying police coerced them into making the admissions.