KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) _ Jailed opposition leader Anwar  Ibrahim accused Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Wednesday(23/06/99) of  instructing a court to imprison him.  

Anwar, the former deputy prime minister, issued a statement  through his wife's opposition political party
blasting Mahathir for  using a recent political convention to publicly insult him.  

Long considered the next Malaysian leader, Anwar, 51, was  sentenced in April to six years in prison for abusing his power to  cover up alleged sexual trysts with men and women. He is now being  tried on charges of allegedly sodomizing his former family driver.  

Sodomy is illegal in mostly Muslim Malaysia.  

Anwar denies the charges, saying he was framed for challenging  the 73-year-old Mahathir, Asia's
longest-serving ruler.  

On Wednesday, Anwar said Mahathir used a political convention of  his ruling United Malays National
Organization to further smear his  name. 

``Since he appears very confident of my guilt, he must have  instructed the court to sentence me regardless,''
Anwar said.  

He has repeatedly accused Mahathir and his top aides of cronyism  and nepotism. But Mahathir insists Anwar and his associates also  benefited from government contracts.  

Mahathir devoted the bulk of his lengthy opening and closing  remarks at the annual party meeting to make
scathing attacks  against his former protege, whom he fired last September.  

Anwar dismissed the diatribe, in which Mahathir called him an  immoral and corrupt politician who tried to topple him.  

``The way he rants and lies gives an impression of senility,''  Anwar said in a statement issued by the National Justice Party  headed by his wife, Azizah Ismail.  

He refuted the charge that he worked to destroy the governing  party, saying all he wanted to do was to
cleanse it of corruption.