Anwar's arrest: Govt has no power to overrule court's decision, says PMO to UN group

The government does not hold the power of authority to overrule the decisions of the court, the Prime Minister’s Office stressed today following tenacious calls to free former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim over a United Nations (UNWG) Working Group’s finding that the leader’s detention was illegal and had breached international law.

In a statement Monday, the PMO stressed that the final verdict in Anwar’s sodomy case was only reached after an exhaustive legal process that spanned over many years.

The Federal Court judges, said PMO will have to uphold the Court of Appeal’s guilty verdict only after considering all the evidence.

“It was not the government but the victim, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, a private individual and Anwar Ibrahim’s employee that lodged the police report and brought the case.

Anwar was convicted of a crime, and this was a criminal not a political case.

It had nothing to do with the government,” said PMO in the statement.

“We call on all parties, including those overseas, to respect legal process, the judgment of Malaysia’s courts and the rights of the victim to seek justice.”

Anwar, who is also a former Finance Minister, was sentenced to five-year imprisonment last February at the Sungai Buloh prison in Selangor for sodomising an ex-male aide.