Скачать или смотреть Malaysia's former deputy leader arrives for treatment

(5 Sep 2004) SHOTLIST

1. Former Malaysian deputy leader Anwar Ibrahim in wheelchair greeted with floral bouquet in airport
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Anwar Ibrahim, Former Malaysian deputy leader
"I am happy I am back here, so I'm focusing on the immediate surgery now."
3. Ibrahim chatting as wheeled away
4. Exterior hospital, 'Alpha Klinik' in Germany
5. Ibrahim arrives at clinic
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Anwar Ibrahim, Former Malaysian deputy leader
"I am happy to be here....very different from my experience last six years. I am here.....Dr. Hoogland will have to decide my fate. This morning I am coming straight to see him. And he will advise accordingly."
7. Cutaway photographer
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Anwar Ibrahim, Former Malaysian deputy leader
"There is the review for the first conviction, which I have already served six years, and we are challenging the ruling because it is flawed and unjust and for speaking to the police man I got six years..so don't talk to the policemen."
9. Ibrahim greets Alpha Klinik's Dr. Thomas Hoogland they shake hands
10. Ibrahim and family walk into clinic
11. Exterior clinic
12. Dr. Hoogland, Ibrahim's doctor, waiting to give bite
13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Alpha Klinik's Dr. Thomas Hoogland
"After six years of prison it's amazing how good the spirits of Mr Anwar are, and it's also amazing how bad his physical condition is. I think he has suffered a lot."
14. Cameraman shooting clinic exterior

STORYLINE:

Former Malaysian deputy leader Anwar Ibrahim arrived in Germany on Sunday for back surgery, days after being released from six years in prison.

Anwar, his family and several aides headed straight from the airport to a private Munich clinic where he will be operated on for an injury due in part to a police beating six years ago.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Anwar told reporters after arriving from Malaysia by plane via Frankfurt. "I'm happy to be here. It's a different world from what I had in the last six years."

Anwar was expected to undergo minimally invasive endoscopic surgery Monday and stay up to several weeks in Germany to recover.

In 2000, Anwar was examined in Malaysia by the Alpha Klinik's Dr. Thomas Hoogland. Authorities refused to let him leave prison and travel to Germany for surgery, fearing he would not return.

On Sunday, Anwar said he would be meeting with Hoogland to discuss details of the upcoming surgery.

Anwar was freed from prison Thursday after Malaysia's highest court, the Federal Court, overturned a sodomy conviction that he had long contended was trumped up to destroy him.

His immediate political future is at stake when the court starts hearings Monday on whether to reconsider its earlier decision to uphold Anwar's separate conviction for corruption.

If the appeal succeeds, Anwar will no longer be a convicted felon and would avoid the five-year ban against running for office.

"We are challenging this ruling because it is ... unjust," Anwar said in Munich, though he stopped short of speculating about his political future.

At Anwar's departure in Kuala Lumpur, several thousand supporters brought Malaysia's main airport terminal to a standstill early Sunday in a potent reminder of the charismatic sway he holds over the country.

The crowds overwhelmed airport security as they surged toward Anwar's gold-colored Mercedes-Benz when he arrived for the Malaysian Airlines flight to Germany.

"I hope to come back stronger to continue my struggle," Anwar told reporters at Kuala Lumpur airport.




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