Lawyer:Saiful to come out of hiding ’soon’

Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, who has been keeping a low profile since accusing opposition stalwart Anwar Ibrahim of sodomising him, will come out of hiding soon. “(He will appear) once he is ready. I will keep all of you informed,” his lawyer Zamri Idrus told a press conference at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur today.

Zamri (photo) said this when asked why Saiful did not attend the press conference. Prior to taking questions, Zamri read Saiful’s handwritten note which called on Anwar and the public to not interfere with police
investigations into the matter.

Saiful, who is Anwar’s former aide, urged his former boss not to ‘dolak dalik’ (twist and turn) the issue. n the three-paragraph note, Saiful, 23, also said he was waiting for the police to complete their investigations and bring the perpetrator to book.

“I wish to state that there are no reasons for me to falsely accuse Anwar in this matter,” he said.

After reading Saiful’s statement, Zamri said his client merely wants all quarters to “leave the matter to the police.” Will swear on Quran soon.

Asked if Saiful had produced the note in view of the leaked Hospital Puswari medical report, Zamri replied that the note was in view of a lot of matters.

“He just wants everyone to leave this case to the police. Let the police investigate… I don’t know whether it is a medical report or not. We wouldn’t know,” he said. Zamri also refused to confirm or deny the content of the medical report which was leaked to the media. The report had allegedly found no evidence of Saiful was sodomised.

Earlier today, the hospital clarified that the examination carried out on Saiful was not related to sodomy and the doctor who did it was only a general practitioner, and not a specialist.

To a question, Zamri said his client would also be publicly swearing on the Quran soon that he was sodomised by Anwar but could not give a definitive date for this. He said Saiful was also waiting for the police to wrap up their probe before doing so. Earlier this month, Saiful had challenged Anwar to swear on the Quran through his online social networking Friendster.com web-page.

Depressed but motivated

Meanwhile, Zamri (left) said he was in constant contact with Saiful and that his client was still in the country and is being financially supported by his father. “Saiful is still under police protection. He made the request (for protection) earlier. He is worried about his safety… his movements are not restricted by the police,” he said.

However, Zamri refused to comment when asked if Saiful had received any threats. The lawyer also told reporters that Saiful had lost weight since the issue erupted and is suffering from depression, but
is still motivated to seek justice. also confirmed that the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) had not contacted him or his client.

Anwar was called in by Jawi today for questioning pertaining to a complaint which he lodged against Saiful on July 9.