Pakatan MPs fail to see Anwar at Sungai Buloh prison
(Malay Mail Online) – A group of Pakatan MPs today visited the Sungai Buloh Prison in an unsuccessful attempt to see Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The group of 15 or so people including PKR vice-presidents Chua Tian Chang and Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin, PKR chief whip Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani, Kapar MP Manivanan Gawin, and DAP’s MP for Segambut Lim Lip Eng were admitted into Sungai Buloh prison at 1.45pm but were not allowed to see Anwar.
The group visited despite visitation rules that do not permit Anwar to meet with them, and without express approval from the Prisons Department.
“The rules say only lawyers and family members are allowed to see prisoners, and we were aware of (that), but we expected the prison director to exercise his discretion,” Johari said,
Johari told reporters they instead spoke with the prison director and discussed Anwar’s prison condition, including his diet and reading materials.
“He is currently under tight surveillance,” Johari Abdul told Malay Mail Online outside the prison. “We want more to be done about his access to family members. Currently he is allowed no physical contact with them — he is only allowed to speak to them from across a glass panel.”
When asked about the status of Anwar’s petition for a royal pardon, Chua said they have not received formal notification despite the Attorney-General saying it was unsuccessful.
Last Friday, the High Court informed Anwar’s lawyers that his bid for a royal pardon has been decided, when it deferred hearing his application for a judicial review to be allowed to leave prison and attend Parliament.
The lawyers on both sides declined to state how the Pardons Board has ruled, but their replies suggest that Anwar’s petition was likely unsuccessful.
On February 10, the Federal Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s 2014 ruling that had reversed Anwar’s acquittal of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, also sentencing him to five years’ jail.
On February 24, Anwar’s family sent a request for a royal pardon to delay his disqualification from his Permatang Pauh seat. They also applied to the Prison Commissioner to give Anwar leave to attend Parliament.
However, they received a letter on March 4 from the Prisons Commissioner rejecting their application.
If Anwar’s application for a royal pardon has been rejected, he will lose his Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat as he has no further recourse in the case.
