Former AG Mohtar dies
Controversial former attorney-general and Federal Court judge Mohtar Abdullah today died at the Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) after suffering from a long illness.
Mohtar, 58, was suffering from a stroke due to a blood clot in his brain and had been in comatose since collapsing in his home on Aug 5 last year.
HKL confirmed that Mohtar died at about 10.40am. He was born May 7, 1944, in Masjid Tanah, Melaka.
He was buried at the Bukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery after Asar prayers. Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamed Ali, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim and Chief Secretary to the Government Samsudin Osman were among those who paid him their last respects at his house in Kelana Jaya.
Last April, the government medical board had recommended that Mohtar was medically unfit to continue serving as a Federal Court judge.
The report stated that he was considered a permanent invalid, in a "vegetative state" and opined that his condition may not recover.
Controversial former attorney-general and Federal Court judge Mohtar Abdullah today died at the Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) after suffering from a long illness.
Mohtar, 58, was suffering from a stroke due to a blood clot in his brain and had been in comatose since collapsing in his home on Aug 5 last year.
HKL confirmed that Mohtar died at about 10.40am. He was born May 7, 1944, in Masjid Tanah, Melaka.
He was buried at the Bukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery after Asar prayers. Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamed Ali, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim and Chief Secretary to the Government Samsudin Osman were among those who paid him their last respects at his house in Kelana Jaya.
Last April, the government medical board had recommended that Mohtar was medically unfit to continue serving as a Federal Court judge.
The report stated that he was considered a permanent invalid, in a "vegetative state" and opined that his condition may not recover.
Persecution against Anwar
The Shakespeare-quoting Mohtar served as attorney-general from January 1994 to December 2000.
He headed the prosecution team in the corruption and sodomy trials of ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim in the late 1990s.
The trials have been slammed by international legal bodies as a miscarriage of justice, and next Monday the Appellate Court will decide on Anwar's bail application for his sodomy conviction.
Mohtar was accused of being part of a political conspiracy to oust Anwar, a charge which the former chief prosecutor repeatedly denied.
On Jan 23 , 2001, amid much controversy, Mohtar was promoted as a Federal Court judge.
He was appointed as a Judicial Commissioner in April 1989 and a High Court judge in August 1990. However he had to relinquish the office at the end of December 1993 to take up the appointment as the attorney general.
