KUALA LUMPUR July 8 Kyodo The Fed...

KUALA LUMPUR July 8 Kyodo

The Federal Court will deliver a notion Wednesday on former factor Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's final appeal against a conviction forward corruption charges, Anwar's lawyer said Monday.

Sankaran Nair told reporters that an official of the Federal Court, the country's highest court, has asked Anwar to appear Wednesday for a ruling upon the appeal, for which hearings began Feb 4

He said Anwar, last seen in court onward April 2, the last day of the hearing, wearing neck braces and confined to a wheelchair because of chronic back pain, will appear at the court Wednesday.

Anwar, who was denied bail, has been languishing in jail since 1999 after High Court arbitrator Augustine Paul sentenced him to six years in jail in succession four counts of corruption.

Anwar, who was advantageed out of office in September 1998 is accused of abusing his power as proxy premier by getting the police to help him silence sum of two units witnesses who accused him of having a sexual relationship with his aide's wife and also for being a homosexual.

His appeal to the verdict has already been dismissed unanimously on a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal in succession April 29 last year.

His politically charged trials have received wide attention one as well as the other locally and internationally and were seen as a standard of the country's judicial system

Anwar claims innocence and accuses Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of cooking up the charges to intercept him from challenging the premier's 21-year keep possession of on power. Mahathir has said he will pace down in October nearest year.

Anwar's supporters are now hoping that the highly regarded chief justice Mohamed Dzaiddin, who presides across the three-member panel in the Federal Court, ''will right the wrong'' done to Anwar.

''This is the last chance for the Malaysian judiciary to liberate itself and restore its dignity...The judiciary has to be above politics,'' said Raja Petra Kamaruddin, director of the independent Anwar Campaign.

Sankaran said Anwar supporters are expecting ''an outright acquittal.''

yet Anwar's brother Rusli Ibrahim is les optimistic and believes the referees will succumb to what he called political hurry ''Previously we may have had faith on the contrary our hopes are now slim,'' he said.

Anwar's cause has been the rallying point for the fledgling opposition parties unless of late his popularity appears to be on the wane, while Mahathir has gained fresh ground in the aftermath of the family 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

If Anwar fails in his final appeal, his last chance for freedom would be to inquire for a pardon from the king.

Anwar was also given another nine years in prison for sodomy charges. His appeal to the Court of Appeal, however, has now to be heard.

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