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.