Malaysian leader files judicial review to attend parliament

Malaysia's jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim today filed for a judicial review against the government's decision to bar him from attending the parliament.
Anwar, the opposition leader and a federal lawmaker, filed the application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court to override the Home Minister and Prisons director-general's decision to prevent him from attending the ongoing session of the parliament, which will end on April 9.
Anwar, 67, who was convicted of sodomising a former male aide in 2008 and sentenced to five years in jail, said in his application that he was still a member of the parliament as the petition for his royal pardon is still pending.

Anwar claimed that the decision to bar him from attending the parliament was "unconstitutional, invalid and void", as it was his duty to attend the parliament as an elected representative.
Anwar's lawyer N Surendran added that the filing of the judicial review is "unprecedented" as there has never been an instance where an lawmaker was barred from attending the parliament.
"This is an application that is unprecedented in the Malaysian judiciary because there has never been a case where a valid federal opposition leader and a valid member of parliament is barred from attending a parliamentary session," Surendran said.

Anwar's daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar, also an opposition lawmaker, added that preventing the federal opposition leader from attending parliament was merely a ploy by Prime Minister Najib Razak to quash the voice of the opposition.

In February, Anwar's family had applied for a royal pardon to delay his disqualification as a lawmaker. They had also applied to the prison to temporarily release the opposition leader to attend the parliament.
However, Anwar's request for a temporary release to attend the parliament was rejected on March 4.