RAYUAN ANWAR DITOLAK LAPURAN AFP

 

 

Malaysian court rejects Anwar's appeal against jail term

KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 (AFP) - A Malaysian court Saturday rejected the appeal by ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim against his conviction and six-year jail sentence for abuse of power.
"We find no valid ground to depart from the finding of the learned judge...we hereby dismiss the appeal against conviction," appeal court president Lamin Yunus said in a statement.

"The appeal against sentence is also dismissed and the sentence as passed is affirmed."

Judge Augustine Paul jailed Anwar in April 1999 for abusing his official powers to cover up allegations of sexual misconduct.

Anwar says he is the victim of a high-level conspiracy because he intended to expose corruption and was seen as a political threat to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Anwar is now separately on trial for sodomy, punishable by up to 20 years in jail.