Anwar: This is not the end of the road

PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said his bid for freedom will continue, despite failing to overturn the Federal Court's decision to convict him.

"This is not the end of the road. I will discuss with my lawyers on the next possible course of action through the legal process," Anwar said.

Anwar said an announcement would be made in two days.

He refused to confirm if he would seek a royal pardon.

He added that he wasn't optimistic about the judgment, but he was still in high spirits.

"I am realistic enough to understand. It is a long road to freedom," he said.

He was speaking to reporters after a five-member Federal Court panel dismissed his application to review a previous Federal Court ruling that handed him a five-year prison sentence for sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Regardless of the ruling, Anwar maintained that he was innocent of the charge.

He said he somewhat expected the decision and that the Federal Court did not address all issues that his legal team had raised.

'A tragedy for justice'

In an immediate reaction, Human Right Watch's deputy Asia director Phil Robertson described the Federal Court decision as a "real tragedy for justice in Malaysia".

"This was a politically motivated case from day one, involving trumped up charges considered in court trials that were plagued by fundamental problems in procedure and evidence, for a so-called 'crime' inherited from the British colonial era that should have been revoked long ago.

"More than anything, this outcome shows that the Malaysian courts were no match for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's political vendetta against Anwar," he said.

Robertson said that with Anwar securely out of the way, Najib would have removed what could have been a major obstacle in the forthcoming general election.

"Najib and the ruling Umno party have just fired the starting gun on the expected 2018 election by permanently sidelining the political opposition's most capable leader," he said.- Mkini