Malaysia's Anwar
demands apology from ex-prime minister for calling
him a homosexual

Malaysian dissident politician Anwar Ibrahim on Friday demanded an apology and damages totaling $26.7 million from former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad for saying Anwar is homosexual. Anwar's lawyer, Sankara Nair, said he delivered a letter to Mahathir's attorneys Friday warning that Anwar plans to sue Mahathir for defamation unless Mahathir pays him and issues a written apology in the national media within two weeks. Mahathir's claim that Anwar had committed sodomy--considered a crime in Malaysia, a predominately Muslim country--was "false, frivolous...and devoid of substance," read the letter, released by Nair to reporters. Mahathir, who retired in 2003, earlier this month reiterated that he'd fired Anwar as his deputy in 1998 because Anwar's alleged sexual orientation made him unfit for office. Mahathir's aides were not immediately available for comment. On Wednesday he brushed aside Anwar's threat to sue him, saying he remains convinced Anwar had been involved in homosexual acts. After Anwar was fired, he was arrested, tried for alleged corruption and sodomy, and sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison before a successful appeal against the sodomy charge set him free last year. He had already served a separate sentence for corruption. In the letter to Mahathir, Anwar's lawyers accused Mahathir of making the comments to tarnish Anwar's reputation in the "pursuit of seeking cheap publicity [and] sensationalism." Mahathir's comments have caused Anwar "mental anguish" and exposed him and his family "to public hatred, ridicule, scorn, and odium," the letter added. Anwar had earlier filed a slander suit against Mahathir in 1998, when Mahathir described Anwar's alleged homosexual acts at a news conference. The High Court dismissed the suit in 1999, saying it was a frivolous abuse of the legal process. (AP)