KUALA LUMPUR: The second sodomy trial of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been postponed to tomorrow after the accused made an application for the trial judge to recuse himself from the trial this morning.

Anwar's lawyer, Karpal Singh, made the application for judge Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah to disqualify himself on grounds that the latter had refused to cite local Malay daily Utusan Malaysia for contempt of court over a front-page article headlined "Tak Rela Diliwat Lagi".

In his application, Anwar said the daily had, on Feb 4, published the article with his photograph and plaintiff Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan on either side, as well as another article on page three under the headline "Berhenti Kerana Tidak Mahu Diliwat Lagi".

"My counsel applied to cite Utusan Malaysia for contempt of court as what was published amounted to that," said Anwar.

"However, the learned trial judge dismissed my counsel's application on grounds that the said reports were not committed in court and that the reports were not carried with the intention of being mischievious and to distrupt trial proceedings."

In his affidavit which was filed at the court registry at 9am today, Anwar said Utusan Malaysia had again featured on its front-page,  on Feb 5, a photograph captioned "Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan menunjukkan katil di bilik tidur utama tempat beliau mendakwa diliwat Anwar Ibrahim kepada Hakim Mohamed Zabidin Mohd Diah (kiri) ketika melawat kondominium.

Tempat kesalahan itu didakwa dilakukan di Unit 11-5-1 Kondominium Desa Damansara, Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, semalam".

He said his counsel had urged the judge to caution the newspaper for having carried the photograph and caption, and had stressed that the caption adverted to the bed and not the place where the alleged offence took place, adding that the report was, therefore, misleading rather than adverting to proceedings which had been in camera earlier that day.

Anwar said the lead counsel for the prosecution, Solicitor General II Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden, opposed his lawyer's application to the judge.

"The learned trial judge declined to caution Utusan Malaysia, and to my utter amazement and disbelief, ruled that the publication of the bed pictures as evidence that had been given in court the previous day!"

Anwar stated in his affidavit that this pronouncement by the judge is not derived by what actually transpired in open court or in the notes of proceedings, both written and audio.

In the affidavit, Anwar said the ruling made by the judge was adverted and brought to surface an element of real danger of bias on the part of the learned judge.

At this morning's hearing, Mohamad Zabidin said he would hear Anwar's application for him to be recused tomorrow.