Saturday August 16, 2008
Saiful swears on the Quran
By LOONG MENG YEE, ZULKLIFI ABD RAHMAN and NURBAITI HAMDAN
Saiful swears he was sodomised
KUALA LUMPUR: Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan (pic) swore on the Quran before scores of press members and religious officials at the Federal Territory mosque that he was sodomised by his former boss Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Mohd Saiful, 23, who wore a brown baju melayu and a songkok, turned up inside the main prayer hall at 6.20pm through a side door to the mosque administrative office with his relatives.
He then sat down at the front of the hall with his family members and mosque officials.
Holding a Quran in one hand and a piece of document on the other, Saiful then proceeded to make a solemn declaration.
As he spoke out his full name and his MyKad number, Saiful said: “I swear that I was sodomised by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on June 26, 2008.
“If I make a lie in this confession, then I am making a falsehood against Allah, and I am willing to accept His suffering, curse and damnation until Judgment Day,” he added.
Personal declaration: Mohd Saiful swearing that he was sodomised by Anwar while his father looks on in the mosque yesterday. Mohd Saiful’s father Azlan Mohd Lazim, who was sitting beside him and also wearing a Baju Melayu, then kissed his son’s forehead after the ceremony was over. The proceeding took less than five minutes.
The congregation then went into the same room they had come out from without speaking to the members of the media present.
Later, at Dynasty Hotel here, Saiful challenged Anwar to also swear on the Quran, and dared him to deny the allegation in Allah's name inside a mosque.
“It is time to honour my responsibility as a Muslim and to stand up for the truth. I deeply understand that if I am lying, I will be cursed by Allah, and woe will befall me, my family and for generations to come,” said Saiful, 23, in his first-ever press conference.
Reporters then bombarded Saiful with questions.
On why he only came forward to swear one day before the nomination for the Permatang Pauh by-election where Anwar is standing as a candidate for PKR, he said he needed time to gather his strength because the swearing was something sacred and the consequences severe.
“It has nothing to with politics. It is between Anwar and me,” he said.
Asked whether this was the first time he was sodomised, Saiful said: “Yes, it was
Reporters: Do you love Anwar?
Saiful: “No.”
Reporters: Are you straight?
Saiful: “Yes.”
Although the press wanted Saiful to answer more questions, his lawyer Zamri Idrus stopped the press conference and the three of them left the room. Saiful, Azlan and Zamri then left the hotel surrounded by a group of men.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Saiful had chosen the Islamic way to redeem his honour by the act of “sumpah laknat” (swearing in the face of divine retribution) and it was apt for Muslims to gauge his action.
He said this after inspecting Umno's Permatang Pauh by-election machinery here.
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