'VENGEFUL' Shafee’s X-rated attacks show he's out to 'character assassinate' Anwar at all costs

Umno lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s on-going tirade against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim only goes to show he is now the party's hatchet man with a vendetta, a lawyers group said today.

Lawyers for Liberty executive director, Eric Paulsen said Shafee's conduct was also unbecoming as he was out to character assassinate Anwar even as the latter languished in Sungai Buloh prison and was unable to defend himself.

"Lawyers for Liberty is shocked and disgusted by Shafee's continuous attack against Anwar since his conviction by giving a series of widely published interviews, culminating in yesterday’s X-rated and vile forum organised by Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin," he said in a statement.

The Federal Court bench led by Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria had on February 10 dismissed Anwar’s final appeal against his conviction for sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

The bench also maintained the five-year jail term imposed by the Court of Appeal on March 7 last year.

Shafee was given a temporary licence in July 2013 to conduct the prosecution's appeal, and succeeded in securing a conviction.

Paulsen said Shafee’s appointment as ad hoc deputy public prosecutor smacked of desperation and set a bad precedent.

"It is sending the wrong message that the authorities would go to extraordinary lengths to secure the conviction of Umno’s political adversaries," he added.

Shafee

He said as prosecutor, Shafee must be above any trace of suspicion but there was doubt that in Anwar's case, the oppositon leader was afforded a fair trial.

He said the purpose of a criminal prosecution was not to obtain a conviction but to place fairly and independently before the courts all available evidence to what is alleged to be a crime.

"We therefore call upon the attorney-general to admonish and revoke Shafee’s appointment to prevent further public contempt and erosion of public confidence in the independence and impartiality of the AG’s Chambers," he added.

Former attorney-general Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman had told The Malaysian Insider that Shafee should have his deputy public prosecutor's licence revoked for his continued attacks on Anwar.

Talib said further disparaging remarks about the PKR de facto leader was inappropriate and only reinforced the perception that Anwar's case was politically motivated. -TMI