Malaysia's Highest Court Delays Anwar's AppealMalaysia"s highest court on Monday postponed Anwar Ibrahim"s appeal against his conviction for corruption after his lawyers said the jailed former deputy prime minister needed at least two weeks to rest an ailing back. The Federal Court, which was to hear the appeal on Monday, then tentatively set December 11 to hear the case. But lawyers for Anwar, hospitalised since Saturday, told reporters they doubted if he would be fit to appear in court by then.The former deputy prime minister is serving a six-year jail sentence after he was convicted of his using position to influence the police to cover up sexual charges against him. If he loses the appeal his last chance to have his April 1999 conviction overturned would be to seek a pardon from Malaysia"s king. Anwar entered a government-run general hospital on Saturday after suffering back pains for over a month while in the Sungai Buloh prison, where he is being held. His lawyers told the court on Monday that doctors who examined him said he had an intervertebral disc prolapse, commonly known as a slipped disc. "We have been notified that he has to be in hospital for at least two weeks," Anwar"s lead lawyer for the appeal, Raja Aziz Raja Addruse, told a panel of three judges. Christopher Fernando, another of his lawyers, said it was unlikely that Anwar would have recovered by December 11. Anwar is being held under tight security at the hospital |
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