Court sets Nov 15 to hear lawyer’s bid to seek leave to appeal over legality of Anwar’s royal pardon

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has fixed Nov 15 to hear a lawyer's application to get leave to pursue his appeal to reinstate his lawsuit that questioned the legality of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's royal pardon for his sodomy conviction.

The hearing date was fixed following a case management held before Federal Court deputy registrar Mazuliana Abdul Rashid on Wednesday (Aug 10).

Anwar's lawyer J. Leela, when contacted, confirmed that the hearing date has been fixed.

In civil cases, litigants must first obtain leave before they can proceed with the appeal in the Federal Court.

On Sept 21, last year, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeals brought by Anwar, who is Port Dickson Member of Parliament, and the Pardons Board of the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur to strike out the lawsuit filed against them by Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz.

The Court of Appeal’s three-member bench comprising Justices Has Zanah Mehat, Indera Mohd Sofian Abd Razak and Lee Heng Cheong held that Mohd Khairul did not have the right to question the clemency and the advice given to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for the granting of the pardon to Anwar.

On Sept 21, 2020, Anwar and the Pardons Board lost their bid in the High Court to strike out the lawsuit.

Mohd Khairul filed the originating summons on Feb 26, 2020, naming the Pardons Board and Anwar as respondents, claiming that several unconstitutional actions had been taken to ensure that Anwar received a pardon which released him from prison following the 14th General Election.

He claimed that the pardon granted to Anwar by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong contravened Articles

42(4) and (5) of the Federal Constitution in view of the fact that pardons granted by the King should be based on the advice of the Pardons Board which he (Mohd Khairul) argued had not yet been formally formed following the General Election on May 9, 2018 and the formation of the new government.

Anwar had been sentenced to five years’ jail for sodomising his aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, and the conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Federal Court on Feb 10, 2015. - Bernama