Anwar smiles as he leaves the courthouse after the first day of his trial on corruption charges. EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP

Legal maneuvering consumed most of the first day of Anwar Ibrahim's trial Monday on corruption charges. The ousted Deputy Prime Minister's defense team asked the judge, Augustine Paul, to give the Malaysian Bar Council and several human rights groups official observer status at the trial. The groups asked for special status because of concerns about Anwar's arrest and his treatment while in detention. Paul rejected the request, describing it as "a big insult to the court." "The judge didn't say they couldn't attend the trial, he just declined to give them official status, which means they won't have reserved seats and their notes won't become part of the official record," says TIME correspondent David Liebhold. The judge later declined to give Munawar Anees and Sukma Darmawan "watching briefs," which would have allowed their attorneys to attend the trial. The two men pleaded guilty in September of allowing themselves to be sodomized by Anwar.

Paul also dismissed an attempt to have the charges thrown out on a technicality--the defense argued that the law under which Anwar was arrested had been repealed. The judge responded that Parliament hadn't formally revoked the law (although it appears likely to do so) and that even if it had, the charges relate to crimes committed while the law was still in effect. Anwar, for his part, added spice to the afternoon when he lashed out at the Malaysian government after court adjourned, accusing Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of lying about his record while he was in office and complaining that it would be impossible for him to get a fair trial. The outburst stunned people watching the proceedings. "It's amazing that [Anwar] would jump up, and nobody tried to stop him," says Liebhold.

R E L A T E D S T O R Y : DAY 2: MAKING A CASE TIME Daily: The prosecution accuses Anwar of using the police to cajole witnesses into changing their tune