A group of about 150 supporters of former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim gathered outside the Sungai Buloh Prison tonight in conjunction with the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration.

Also present were members of Anwar's family, including his wife Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, all six children, and some of their grandchildren, as well as several PKR leaders.

The event was held to celebrate Hari Raya with Anwar, as well as to show solidarity with him amid what is claimed to be a politically motivated imprisonment.

“We are present here today to show that although (Anwar is) imprisoned, we still managed to celebrate this important day with him. Although we are separated by gates, walls, and razor wire, it is as though we are celebrating with him.

“I know from previous experience of the things we have done here before, that our speeches and our songs here will become the talk of the prison for the next three days.

“So we have brought happiness not just to Anwar, but also most of the prison’s inmates,” Anwar’s lawyer and Padang Serai MP N Surendran ( photo ) said in his speech to the gathering.

Anwar has been jailed since February, for a five-year sentence for sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Anwar maintains that he is innocent and claims that the charges against him are part of a political conspiracy against his political career.

The group started to gather in the dark at 8.35pm, as the street lamps in front of the prison gates are not lit.

However, as time passed and the crowd grew, the area became dimly lit with light from candles, mobile phones and the video cameras of the journalists present.

The group started the event with the recitals of the Takbir Raya, a special prayer for Hari Raya Aidilfitri, at 9pm.

Some members of the group also brought durian to share with the people, filling the air with its distinctive smell.

Fireworks, too, lit up the sky

Some others had brought fireworks, adding the display of light and sound that was filling the sky from surrounding areas, including from within the prison compound.

The event featured mostly short speeches from figures such as Wan Azizah, former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan, cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Haque (popularly known as Zunar), and Batu MP Chua Tian Chang.

Festive Hari Raya songs were also sang during the event, during which Anwar’s youngest daughter Nurul Hana broke into tears.

Speaking to Malaysiakini after the gathering, Nurul Hana said it was only upon listening to the lyrics that it ‘hit her’ that she won’t be spending the festive period with her father.

“(Anwar) used to lead the family in prayers on the first day of Raya,” she said.

The mood of the event was largely solemn, apart from cheers during the singing and laughter when Zunar cracked jokes on the ruling coalition, BN, and on the government.

The event ended with at about 10pm after Wan Azizah’s speech and another recital of the Takbir Raya.

Supporters in attendance were then invited to sign a placard about the event to show their solidarity with Anwar, which would be handed to Anwar on a later date.

The group lingered around outside the prison for a while for chatter, and gradually dispersed peacefully.