KUALA LUMPUR ¨C Jailed Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim lost his final bid for freedom on Wednesday when the federal court rejected his appeal to set aside his sodomy conviction and five-year prison term.
A five-member panel of judges ruled unanimously that there was no merit in Anwar¡¯s application for a review of his 2014 conviction, his final legal option for an acquittal. He will now have to serve out the remaining 16 months of his prison term.
¡°This is not a fit or proper case for this court to exercise its inherent jurisdiction to initiate a review,¡± Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, the chief judge of Malaya, said as he read excerpts from a 60-page ruling.
Anwar, once a rising star in the ruling party, is the greatest threat to Prime Minister Najib Razak and his coalition after leading a three-party opposition alliance to stunning electoral gains in 2013.
He was convicted and jailed for sodomizing a former aide, a charge that Anwar and his supporters say was a politically motivated attempt to end his career.
¡°This is not the end of the road. ... I have pleaded and reiterated my innocence, but the judiciary has ignored my pleas,¡± Anwar told reporters in the court after the verdict. ¡°This is a long walk to freedom.¡±
His wife, children and grandchildren were in court. Crowds of supporters gathered outside in a show of support for their 69-year-old leader.
A former ruling party deputy prime minister, Anwar¡¯s legal troubles began soon after he fell out with then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in the late 1990s and was sacked.
He then campaigned against corruption and nepotism and led a nationwide reform movement. He was later jailed for the first time on charges of sodomy and graft.
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