KUALA LUMPUR, August 7, 2008 (AFP) - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was charged with sodomy in court Thursday and pleaded not guilty to the offence, which carries a penalty of 20 years imprisonment.

'This is a slander, it is a malicious allegation and I am not guilty,' Anwar said from the dock in the Sessions Court after the reading of the charge that alleged he sodomised 23-year-old aide Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan on June 26.