Despite his lawyers previously denying that an appeal would be made, the family of jailed Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has gone ahead to ask for a royal pardon, with the clock to the deadline already having passed yesterday.
The Malay Mail Online‘s Shazwan Mustafa Kamal reports that Anwar’s wife, PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and his second daughter Nurul Nuha are at the Istana Negara to submit the application to the Palace for a royal pardon exonerating Anwar from the charge of and punishment for sodomising his former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan in 2008.
Anwar’s oldest daughter, Nurul Izzah, confirmed the matter with MMO, saying, “We are seeking a royal pardon on behalf of our father.”
She states that a precendence for this exists in the case of the DAP’s father-and-son team of Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng, who also applied for a royal pardon while they were in prison.
Nurul Izzah, for her part, is submitting an official letter regarding the royal pardon application to Parliamentary Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia.
“An appeal for a royal pardon has been submitted. The courts may have pronounced a guilty verdict but our father, and we as a family continue to state that he is innocent,” Nurul Nuha said in a statement.
“By virtue of Article 42 of the Federal Constitution, we hope that the Royal institution would in the name of justice based on all the facts grant an appeal.”
Earlier today, we reported that Sivarasa Rasiah, one of Anwar’s attorneys, stated that they would instead apply for a review of the Federal Court decision under Rule 137 of the Federal Court Rules, as a judicial review was not possible for a criminal case.
Should Anwar not be granted a pardon, he will be disqualified from serving as Permatang Pauh member of Parliament, as the grace period for appeals lasts 14 days from February 10, based on Article 48 Clause 4 (a) of the Federal Constitution.
February 10 was the date of the Federal Court’s decision to uphold the verdict and five-year prison sentence on Anwar for sodomising Saiful.
More on CoconutsKL:
Anwar won’t ask for a royal pardon, will lose his Parliament seat
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