Sodomy conviction suit: Anwar Ibrahim's appeal on Jan 11, 2021

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's appeal against the High Court’s dismissal of his application to strike out an originating summons filed by a lawyer on the full pardon granted to him over his conviction and imprisonment for sodomising an aide, will be heard at the Court of Appeal on Jan 11, next year.

His lawyer, J. Leela said the hearing date was fixed when the matter came up for case management before Court of Appeal deputy registrar, Noridah Adam which was conducted via e-review today.

"Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's appeal will be heard together with the Lembaga Pengampunan's (Pardons Board) appeal," she said via WhatsApp.

The plaintiff, Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz, was represented by lawyer, Mohamad Farhan Kamarudin.

On Sept 21, High Court judge, Datuk Akhtar Tahir dismissed the PKR president's application and a similar application by the Pardons Board, after finding that, among others, the plaintiff (Mohd Khairul Azam) had locus standi in initiating the legal suit as he is a member of the public and a qualified person as lawyer.

The Port Dickson Member of Parliament filed the application on May 13, among others, on grounds that Khairul Azam had no locus standi to file the originating summons and that it was frivolous, an embarrassment and abuse of the court process.

Mohd Khairul Azam, through the legal firm, Raja Riza & Associates, named the Pardons Board and Anwar as the first and second defendants respectively, in his summons filed on Feb 26, this year.

The lawyer claimed that the pardon granted to Anwar by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong was in contravention of Articles 42 (4) and (5) of the Federal Constitution, in view of the fact that pardons granted by the Agong should be based on the advice of the Pardons Board which Mohd Khairul Azam argued had not yet been formally formed following the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018, and the formation of the new government.

Mohd Khairul Azam also claimed that following the election, several unconstitutional actions had been taken to ensure that Anwar received a pardon which released him from prison.

Anwar had been sentenced to five years’ jail for sodomising his aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, and the conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Federal Court on Feb 10, 2015.

-- BERNAMA