While jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim opted out of seeking a royal pardon in the bid to hold on to his Permatang Pauh seat, he is keeping his options open on filing a judicial review to set aside his Sodomy II conviction by the Federal Court.

 

PKR secretary-general and party vice-president Rafizi Ramli ( right ) said yesterday Anwar did mopt issue any instruction to his lawyers to make an application for a royal pardon.

 

“He is innocent,” stressed Rafizi.

 

The matter was also confirmed by one of Anwar's lawyers and PKR central committee member Latheefa Koya.

 

“No seeking of pardon (by Anwar) from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong,” Latheefa said when contacted by Malaysiakini .

 

Normally, in seeking a royal pardon or clemency, it would imply Anwar admitting guilt to the sodomy charge, of which he was convicted on Feb 10.

 

This is something the former deputy prime minister has sternly refuted , even at the final moments of the Federal Court verdict in which the conviction was unanimously upheld, in his address to the court during sentencing, during which he stressed that the charge was politically motivated.

           

Anwar was convicted of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan at the Desa Damansara condominium on June 26, 2008.

 

Politicians who had previously asked for royal pardon included a former Selangor menteri besar, the late Harun Idris, who was charged and jailed for corruption.

 

If Anwar is to ask for a pardon, an application would need to be filed and the Permatang Pauh seat would remain occupied until a decision is made by the Agong.

 

With this latest development, the Dewan Rakyat speaker is expected to announce the vacancy of the Permatang Pauh seat, possibly during the next parliamentary session beginning March 9, or even tomorrow, and a by-election will have to be held within 60 days.

 

No time frame for review

 

However, the PKR de facto leader is keeping his options open on the possibility of filing for a judicial review of the apex court's Feb 10 decision.

 

“There is no time limit to file a review of the court's decision,” said Latheefa ( right ).

 

Normally, a review of the Federal Court's decision is made if the judgment is found to have contained any of four elements - bias, coram failure, fraud and procedural unfairness in the decision by the sitting bench.

 

However, as was seen in the case of Archbishop of the Catholic Church vs the Home Ministry over the ‘Allah’ issue, the granting of a review of the previous panel's decision is extremely rare .

 

This is more so, given that the five-member Federal Court panel in Anwar’s Sodomy II case was headed by Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria and he wrote the 116-page judgment that was co-signed by the other four judges.