[Read our earlier coverage of the Federal Court verdict here.]

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy conviction today became the lead story for major dailies and news outlets around the world, and entered the top 10 global trending list on Twitter.

Twitter trend tracker Trends24.in said the terms ‘DSAI’ (rthe acronym for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) and ‘Anwar Ibrahim’ are the seventh and ninth most tweeted terms worldwide at about 2pm today.

Spreading further ripples globally, the conviction was the top story for news outlets like the UK’s BBC, global news network Al Jazeera, news agency Bloomberg and Singapore’s Channel News Asia.

In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates’ The National featured the conviction as the second lead story as did UK’s top daily Guardian reported the much-awaited verdict.

Australia’s ABC featured it fourth on its main page, while both ABC and Sydney Morning Herald topped its World page with Anwar.

Germany’s Deutsche Welle led with the story in its World section while The Wall Street Journal featured the verdict as the second lead story in the Asia section.

The story was also featured in US-based CNN and The Washington Post. Washington DC is 11 hours behind Malaysia.

Muslim moderate

Anwar is touted in international media as a Muslim moderate.

The US said the charges against him are politically-motivated, but this was yet again denied by the Malaysian government who said this is a personal case between Anwar and his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

"As the victim of a serious sexual assault, he (Saiful) had every right to have his case heard in court," the Malaysian government said today.

More than 50 Australian MPs had called on Malaysia to halt the case against Anwar, while the case garnered the attention of prominent global NGOs like the International Commission of Jurists.

The trial also attracted the attention of foreign embassies whose representatives regularly attended the long-drawn out seven year trial.

Anwar GUILTY! 5-year jail sentence upheld