KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – Malaysia’s top court is hearing this week the final appeal by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim challenging his second conviction on sodomy charges 14 years ago. If the court affirms the guilty verdict, Anwar could be imprisoned for five years or longer. Below are some questions and answers about the case and its implications.
Q: Anwar was first arrested in 1998. Why is he still being targeted?
A: The government says there is no link between the cases against him and his status as opposition leader. But few people believe that to be true, and many suspect the ruling coalition is using the courts to try and silence the main threat to their long but slowly weakening grip on power.
Soon after he was ousted as deputy prime minister in 1998, Anwar led tens of thousands of people in street protests demanding reforms. The movement tapped into unhappiness among many Malaysians over racial discrimination and corruption in the government. He was arrested at its height, and later jailed for abuse of power and sodomy.
Anwar was freed in 2004, after the Federal Court overturned the sodomy conviction. Anwar then galvanized the disparate opposition into a formidable alliance. In 2008 general elections, it broke the government’s stranglehold in parliament by winning more than one-third of the seats. In the 2013 elections, Anwar’s alliance won more seats but not enough to form a government – despite winning the popular vote, about 51 percent, for the first time in history.