(AFP) - Jailed Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim said Saturday his sodomy conviction last year was a mockery and could be the result of political pressure on the high court judge.

Anwar was responding to a full judgement by High Court Judge Arifin Jaka made public a day earlier, 10 months after he was convicted.

The ex-deputy premier, who was already serving a six-year sentence after being convicted in 1999 of abuse of power, was jailed for another nine years in August 2000 after being found guilty of sodomy against former family driver Azizan Abu Bakar.

Anwar said it was "preposterous" for the judge to liken Azizan's credibility to being as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar. "It is at best the shifty Great Jelly of Gibraltar given the countless predictable contradictions, convolutions and utter lack of corroboration," the politician said in a statement issued by his lawyer.

"It is a mockery that my watertight alibi was dismissed outright with no weight given." Anwar noted the disclosure by another senior judge last week of pressure from a superior to drop a politically-sensitive case, and said he was "not surprised if similar actions were taken in my case."

Police have mounted an investigation into the revelation by High Court judge Muhammad Kamil Awang that a superior ordered him in 1999 to drop a case in the eastern state of Sabah, on Borneo island.

The judge however went ahead and ordered a member of the ruling coalition to vacate his seat in the Sabah state assembly after ruling he won it with the help of "phantom voters," paving the way for a by-election.

Appeal

Anwar said his lawyers were drafting an appeal against Arifin's ruling, and would submit it to the courts soon.

Arifin, in his 206-page ruling, said it was "pitiful" that Anwar had indulged in such an "act of self-destruction which led to his downfall" and that he deserved to be condemned. The judge also rejected Anwar's claims of a high-level conspiracy to fabricate evidence against him involving several ministers.

Anwar, who was sacked and detained in September 1998, says he was framed to avert a political challenge to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an allegation denied by the government. He has become the symbol of opposition to Mahathir, who completes 20 years in office in July.