I refer to the Dr M Bakri Musa's article, 'An Anwar in exile will be an Anwar forgotten' (May 4). I wish to highlight certain legal issues that are relevant in the article. Anwar Ibrahim is a person convicted in Malaysia, by a Malaysian court for acts deemed to be a criminal offence under Malaysian laws.

Certain acts, such as homosexual acts or sodomy between consenting adults are not criminal offence in other countries. The moment he steps out of Malaysia, he is no longer a convict and as such the Malaysian police or prison has no authority to detain him. Simply put, he is a free man outside Malaysia. And being a free man in a foreign countries, and with all the publicity about him being victimised and convicted for political reasons, we cannot rule out the possibility of him seeking political asylum in Germany or in any other country.

It is debatable as to whether he will be 'forgotten' once he is outside Malaysia, but given his numerous publicity stunts, it might be safer for the government to lock him up in a Malaysian jail.

I fully agree with the writer that Anwar, as a convicted person, has been given too many unnecessary treatments and priviliges. We all should wake up to the fact that once a person is convicted, he loses his freedom. And one of the freedoms is the choice of location for medical treatment.