Sodomy II: Anwar loses bid for judge's recusal

Anwar Ibrahim failed to reverse the sodomy trial judge's refusal to recuse himself when the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal today.

The three-member panel headed by Justice Hasan Lah was unanimous in allowing the prosecution's preliminary objection today.

"The application does not fall within the ambit of decision under Section 3 of the Courts of Judicature Act,” said Justice Hasan.

"Hence, it is unwise for us to disturb the ruling. We upheld the High Court decision and dismiss the appeal. We will provide the detailed grounds of judgment later.”

The other two judges were Justice Abdul Malik Ishak and Justice Ahmad Maarop.

Defence lawyer Karpal Singh immediately applied for a stay of proceeding for the matter will be heard at the Federal Court.

"In the event, Federal Court allows our appeal there will be a waste of public funds in the trial,” he submitted.

However, Justice Hasan rejected the stay application, pointing out that the decision had been unanimous.

Karpal said the legal team will file a notice of appeal at the Federal Court tomorrow.

"We hope the court can fix an early date with the case fixed for mention," he said.

Anwar 'not surprised'

Anwar said outside the court that he was not surprised with the decision.

"The court did not hear the merits of our application as it allowed the preliminary objection. Now we will focus on (the) Bersih (2.0 rally)," he said.

Also present in court were Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah, Penang assemblyperson Jagdeep Singh Deo, Kota Alam Shah assemblyperson M Manoharan and Hindraf leader P Uthayakumar.

This was the third attempt by Anwar to obtain the recusal of KL High Court judge Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, who is presiding over the sodomy trial.

Earlier attempts had followed the court's decision not to reprimandUtusan Malaysia and not to abide by a Supreme Court decision.

Anwar, 63, has been ordered to enter his defence on a charge of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 24, at the Desa Damansara condominium in Bukit Damansara between 3pm to 4pm on June 26, 2008.

[More to follow]