Latest in Munawar Anees
WASHINGTON, April 4 (AFP) - Munawar Anees is again spending most of every day at his
computer, but little else in his daily routine reflects the life he left behind in
Malaysia. That life ended on September 14, 1998, when Malaysian authorities arrested the
Pakistani-born scientist on charges of sodomy with his longtime friend, ousted deputy
prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Anees maintains that police tortured him for days to extract a false confession, and that
he, his friends and family suffered intolerable harassment by the Malaysian government.
At the lowest point, Anees said, he suffered a heart attack as a result of the mental and
physical stress, even as authorities refused to disclose his condition and whereabouts to
his Algerian-born wife.
"They told plain lies to her," he said, with a flash of anger he displayed only
once during a nearly two-hour interview here.
After officials disrupted his wife's e-mail and bank accounts, he said, she left the
country with their son and daughter to join her own family in Paris, where they will
remain until school ends in June.
Anees, who used to write speeches for Anwar, ultimately spent four months in a hospital,
chained to his bed and guarded by police, before he was freed on January 18. He left
Malaysia on January 21 to visit his mother in Pakistan before joining his family in Paris.
On March 7, Anees flew to the United States, where he spent half his time as a legal
permanent resident over the last two decades. Now, staying with longtime friend Safir
Rammah in a leafy Washington suburb, he is trying to rebuild his life. "I have a lot
of anger, but I try to control it," Anees said, pausing between cigarettes to take
occasional, sparing bites of his lunch.
Apart from revising a book project, he said, he's looking for work with a Washington
think-tank and keeping in constant touch by phone and e-mail with his family in Paris and
supporters around the world. Often, Rammah said, Anees carries on phone conversations late
into the night -- daytime in Asia -- and sleeps from dawn to midday before rising and
starting the whole cycle again. "He's much better now than when he first
arrived," Rammah said.
Anees continues to take medications to regulate his heartbeat, lower his blood pressure,
and control his anxiety. He remains deeply grateful for the outpouring of concern that
followed his arrest: To the Pakistani ambassador who visited him at the hospital, the
French ambassador who looked after his wife and children, to Amnesty International and an
Internet coalition calling itself "Friends of Dr. Anees" that lobbied tirelessly
for his release. "It was so much more than I expected," Anees said.
London-based Amnesty determined Anees and Anwar were "clearly" political
prisoners and launched an urgent campaign to press for their release, said T. Kumar,
Amnesty's Asia advocacy director here. For its part, the United States called only for a
fair trial, though its 1998 human rights report, issued in February, contained a scathing
assessment of police abuses and civil rights in Malaysia. Looking ahead, Anees said he
will devote himself to the cause of human rights -- "the notion was abstract to me
before," he said -- and remain involved in Malaysian politics.
For the Southeast Asian country that has been his home for half of every year since 1990,
he said, he foresees sweeping reforms ahead: "There's a sort of irreversible change
under way in Malaysia, and any politician ignores it at his own peril."
"People aren't fools," Anees said. "They can distinguish between falsehood
and truth, and Anwar has shown tremendous courage." Mahathir "has created a
tremendous culture of fear,"he said, attributing Anwar's own sacking to a personality
clash with his former mentor.
"Many of my friends abandoned me in those first hours after my arrest," he
added, fearing for their safety. Could he imagine returning to Malaysia? "Yes,"
he replied quickly, "after Mahathir."
Anwar's own marathon trial on corruption charges -- the longest in Malaysian legal history
-- ended Thursday with the judge postponing his verdict from April 6 to April 14. Anwar
denies the allegations but expects he will be convicted. He and his supporters regard the
entire affair as a political vendetta.
The case has drawn intense international scrutiny, notably after Anwar, once a
reform-minded rising star, made his initial court appearance having been badly beaten.