The United States embassy in Kuala Lumpur has expressed "deep disappointment" with the Court of Appeal verdict to uphold the sodomy conviction of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

In a press statement today, the embassy maintained its previously expressed position that Anwar did not receive a fair trial.

"The US has consistently express our view that the sodomy trial of Anwar Ibrahim, and his conviction and nine-year jail sentence, were marred by deep flaws in the judicial process," said the embassy.

"Our human rights report has consistently referred to Anwar as a political prisoner for this reason," it added.

Anwar was first convicted and sentenced to six years in jail in 1999 o­n four counts of corruption. A year later, he received an additional nine years after being found guilty for committing sodomy with his wife's ex-driver Azizan Abu Bakar.

Last July, Anwar's final appeal against his corruption conviction at the Federal Court was rejected. With today's failure to overturn his sodomy sentence, Anwar is left with o­ne final avenue - another Federal Court appeal.

He had just completed his first jail sentence for corruption, with o­ne-third remission for good behaviour, having served four years of the six-year sentence. He began serving his sodomy sentence Monday this week.

Some improvements

A detailed account of the Anwar trials had been included in the latest Country Report o­n Human Rights Practices for Malaysia 2002 by the US state department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour.

Among others, the report stated that although reforms implemented by former Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah appeared to have led to some improvements, many observers had expressed serious doubts about the independence and impartiality of the judiciary.

"The politically-motivated convictions of Anwar o­n charges of corruption and sodomy in 1999 and 2000 demonstrated the judiciary's lack of independence," said the report which was released o­n March 31 this year.

In addition, the report said politically motivated, selective prosecution continued to be of concern in Malaysia although incidents of it happening decreased during the year.

Last July, the US embassy also issued a statement expressing its disappointment with the Federal Court decision to uphold Anwar's conviction o­n corruption charges.

The US embassy then said that Washington had continued to make clear in meetings with Malaysian leaders that it remained committed to "monitoring and promoting respect for human rights in Malaysia and elsewhere in the world".