Anwar Sodomy II Case: Court Stands Down Pending Cross-Appeal On Sentencing

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 10 (Bernama) -- The Federal Court has stood down to allow submissions to be finalised for cross-appeal on sentencing after dismissing an appeal by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim against a Court of Appeal conviction and a five-year jail term for having sodomised a former aide. The decision was made by Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria, who led a five-member panel, after the court had dismissed Anwar's appeal. The other judges were Court of Appeal president Md Raus Sharif and Federal Court judges Abdull Hamid Embong, Suriyadi Halim Omar and Ramly Ali. On Jan 9, 2012, the High Court acquitted and discharged Anwar of having sodomised Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan on the grounds that the court could not be 100 per cent certain on the integrity of samples taken for DNA testing from Mohd Saiful. However, on March 7 last year, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court judgement and found Anwar guilty of having sodomised Mohd Saiful, and sentenced him to five years' jail. The Court of Appeal held that the trial judge had erred in his findings about the DNA samples. -- BERNAMA