KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 (AFP) - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad Thursday said "justice was done"
      with the six-year jail sentence imposed on his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim for corruption.

      Speaking to Cable News Network, Mahathir said it would be a difficult to convince some people of the merits of the
      trial.

      "I am satisfied because justice was done," he said, but added "of course there is no convincing" other people.

      "People who have already made up their mind say that if he is convicted then there is no justice done, if he is not
      convicted then there is justice."

      Mahathir also defended the court's decision to jail Anwar for six years, when he was convicted in April of corruption
      for abusing his powers by ordering police to quash sexual misconduct charges against him.

      Mahathir said four counts against Anwar would have carried six years of imprisonment each.

      "But he (the judge) decided to make it concurrent which reduces the sentence to only six years. If you have a six-year
      sentence in Malaysia that is automatically reduced to four years. It is only a very short sentence for what he has done,"
      he said.

      Mahathir admitted the Anwar saga may have damaged the credibility of the Malaysian judiciary.

      "Yes and no, I would say. Because people have already decided that since he is very popular with them, any trial
      involving him and his conviction would be unfair."

      "That reflects of course on the judges but the judges and the whole prosecution have done a good job," he said.

      Mahathir also said the Malaysian justice system was always being reviewed from time to time and "if we feel that we
      are inadequate in anyway we will make amendments."

      The prime minister brushed aside Anwar's claim of a political conspiracy to overthrow him.

      "If there is a politcal conspiracy in Malaysia, it would have been known by the whole country and by the world through
      the Internet long ago. There was no such thing," he said.

      Mahathir defended the police move to arrest Anwar under the Internal Security Act which allows detention without
      trial, saying he had incited violence.

      "When he started inciting people to riot and to burn vehicles he had to be stopped. That was why he was arrested. Not
      on the principal charge but for inciting peole to violence," he said.

      On former police chief Rahim Noor, who admitted beating Anwar and which resulted in an infamous black eye,
      Mahathir said Rahim would be prosecuted "in time."

      But Mahathir, who was also the home minister at the time of the Anwar beating incident which created an international
      uproar, denied authorising the assault.

      "I'm a politician. I have been fairly a successful politican. I will be an idiot to order a beating which would only make
      me look very bad in the eyes of the whole world, in the eyes of the people in this country."

      "I would not do a stupid thing like that. I did not know about the beating (right after)," he added.

      Anwar is now on trial for sodomy, which is illegal in Malaysia and carries a maximum penalty of 20 years and whipping
      for those aged below 50.