Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has always maintained innocence of the sodomy charges and his Pakatan Rakyat comrades were confident that he would not seek a royal pardon for a crime he did not commit.

However, no one expected the bombshell from his family, who quietly petitioned the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for a royal pardon, leaving his lawyers and PKR officials flabbergasted.

Among party circles, the worry is that seeking a pardon is tantamount to an admission of guilt. Government-controlled media organisations are already taking this line.

However, criminal lawyer Baljit Singh Sidhu noted that Anwar's family had "intelligently crafted" a statement by saying that they are asking for a royal pardon due to a miscarriage of justice.

Many grounds for pardon

Nonetheless, he said, regardless of the family's public statement, seeking a pardon is to ask for forgiveness for an offence committed.

"They (family) can put whatever reason, but it is still asking for pardon over the offence," Baljit (left) told Malaysiakini.

The Federal Court on Feb 10 upheld Anwar's conviction and five-year jail sentence for sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Another criminal lawyer, Amer Hamzah Arshad, agreed that seeking a royal pardon would create the perception of admission of guilt.

However, Amer said, a petition is not a document where legal arguments are made on Anwar's innocence or guilt.

"The decision (on the petition) is not subject to legal arguments... There can be many grounds for pardon.

"So, for example, if pardon is granted on compassionate grounds, it is not an admission of guilt," he told Malaysiakini.

Therefore, Amer added, the line of argument of Anwar's family is also not tantamount to an admission of guilt.

'No hard-and-fast rule'

The petition, made at the eleventh hour, which Anwar's family said was done on their own initiative, has raised questions on whether Anwar himself is aware of the effort.

Even Anwar's lawyer N Surendran had earlier said they did not receive instruction from the opposition leader to file the petition.

However, both Baljit and Amer agreed that there is no "hard-and-fast" rule that a petition for pardon must come from the person who is convicted.

"Normally it is the accused himself who submits a petition... but a petition being submitted by concerned parties is not something unheard of," said Amer.

Echoing this, Baljit said people close to Anwar can submit such a petition and it is deemed to be with the convicted person's consent.

"If this is not a convicted person's position, then he must send a letter to declare his position," he said.

Otherwise, Baljit said, the petition procedure will go ahead.