Malaysian top court reserves verdict in Anwar sodomy case

KUALA LUMPUR: Verdict on Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's appeal against sodomy conviction was today reserved by the country's top court even as the controversial politician appeared confident that the judges would overturn his five-year jail term.

Chief Justice of the Federal Court Arifin Zakaria adjourned the hearing and said the five-member panel needed time to study case laws and submissions from the prosecution and defense against the 67-year-old Anwar.

The bench deferred the judgement after disallowing lead prosecutor Muhammad Shafee Abdullah's application to submit a rebuttal to defence submissions.

The bench also extended Anwar's RM 20,000 (4 lakh rupees) bail with one surety and did not fix a date to deliver the ruling.

Reacting to the adjournment of his case by the court, Anwar said, "I have no worries... They (my lawyers) have destroyed the case of the prosecution."

"The authorities should stop with oppression (and) harassment, using obsolete and draconian laws," he told reporters outside the court.

The hearing on Anwar's appeal against his sodomy conviction began on October 28.

Anwar was sentenced to five years in prison in March on charges of sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, in 2008 after Malaysia's appeals court overturned an earlier acquittal.

The hearing was initially slated for two days but the volume of submissions by the defence and the prosecution made the court extend the hearings.

Anwar's co-counsel Ramkarpal Singh said the court that this hearing was possibly the longest appeal in the Federal Court's history.

The prosecution had filed a cross-appeal to increase Anwar's jail sentence if the Federal Court upholds the appellate court's decision.

This could be heard later depending on the verdict. Another of Anwar's co-counsel Gobind Singh Deo said it was good that the panel was taking its time to consider the facts in the case.

"We are confident of success," he said. This is the second sodomy charge against Anwar. The first was in 1998 after Anwar was sacked from the Mahathir Mohammed government where he was the deputy prime minister and finance minister.

He was then accused of sodomising his former driver and eventually acquitted by the Federal Court in 2004.

Shafee also told the press outside the court that it was "very normal" for the panel to reserve judgement in high-profile cases so as to "think about the case properly and to read all the many documents submitted".