Anwar pleads innocent to sodomy charge

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim Thursday was freed on personal bond after pleading innocent to a sodomy charge.

He had been charged under a section of the country's penal code, which normally doesn't permit the granting of bail, Bernama news agency reported. The original sodomy complaint was filed by Anwar's former aide, 23-year-old Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan,

Sessions court Judge S.M. Komathy Suppiah in Kuala Lumpur said, "I don't think there is any likelihood of Anwar absconding. Therefore, I am granting that you be released on personal bond of (about $6,100) with no surety," Bernama reported.

In his plea, the 60-year-old Anwar said the charge, which could get him up to 20 years in jail if convicted, was politically motivated, the BBC reported.

Anwar spent six years in jail after being convicted in 1998 of a similar charge during a power struggle with former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, until that conviction was overturned in 2004.