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Malaysia court upholds Anwar sodomy conviction
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Malaysia鈥檚 highest court rejected yesterday an appeal by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim against a 2014 sodomy conviction, sending the politician who poses the greatest threat to the long-ruling party back to prison for five years.
Human Rights Watch flayed the verdict, decrying what it called Anwar鈥檚 persecution which 鈥減ut at risk the democratic freedom of all Malaysians.鈥
Anwar, the ruling party鈥檚 rising star in the mid-1990s before he fell out with then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, denied the charge that led to his second conviction for sodomy, calling it politically motivated.
鈥淚 will walk again for the third time into prison but rest assured that I will walk in with my head held high,鈥 a defiant Anwar said in a statement he read out in court. 鈥淚 maintain my innocence. This to me is a complete fabrication coming from a political conspiracy to stop my political career.鈥
Prime Minister Najib Razak鈥檚 government has rejected any suggestion of interference in the case. 鈥淢alaysia has an independent judiciary, and there have been many rulings against senior government figures,鈥 it said in a statement.
Anwar criticized the court saying that in rejecting his appeal it was 鈥渂owing to the dictates of the political masters.鈥
Anwar later comforted his wife and children and had a meal with them before being taken to the Sungai Buloh prison, outside Kuala Lumpur.
A court found the 67-year old ex-deputy prime minister guilty in March last year of sodomizing a former political aide.
The conviction disqualifies him from political office and contesting the next election that must be held by 2018.
Anwar is head of a three-party alliance that made gains in a 2013 general election which for the first time raised the possibility of a genuine challenge for the ruling coalition.
Anwar鈥檚 party and the opposition alliance plan protests against the verdict. Hundreds of his supporters outside the court waved party flags and shouted 鈥淒own with Barisan Nasional,鈥 referring to the coalition that has ruled since 1957.
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