Ten local non-governmental organisations have expressed support for former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's nomination for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.

Led by activists from the 1998 Reformasi movement, Otai Reformasi chair Saari Sungib told a press conference in Petaling Jaya today that they were informed of Anwar's nomination by an undisclosed party.

Their support, Saari said, was partly based on rights group Amnesty International's recognition of Anwar as a "prisoner of conscience" who must be freed.

"He (Anwar) has been twice recognised as Amnesty International's prisoner of conscience and Amnesty has also twice been awarded the Nobel Prize," he added.

As part of their sustained campaign to free Anwar, who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for sodomy, Saari announced that a rally themed 'Free Anwar, Save the Nation' will be held at Dataran Merdeka on April 3.

Saari said on April 2, a Reformasi convention will be held, with participants from Indonesia, Timor Leste, the Philippines and Tunisia, among other countries.

Timely recognition

Meanwhile, national laureate A Samad Said pointed out that the Otai Reformasi group had previously raised the need for Anwar's contributions to be honoured in a more meaningful manner.

"He (Anwar) is a man of conscience, vision and action who is now languishing under lock and key.

"We do not want him to continue wasting in jail when he still has so much left to contribute," Samad ( photo ) said.

Also present at the press conference were PKR vice-president Tian Chua and other NGO representatives.

Tian Chua said that each individual nomination would be judged by the Nobel Committee based on its own merit.

The number of nominations received will not have an impact on the outcome to be decided in October, after which the prizes will be awarded during a ceremony in November.

According to the Nobel Prize website, only certain groups of people can submit nominations, such as members of national assemblies (parliaments), governments, university rectors and previous winners of Nobel Prizes, among others.

The Nobel Committee also has a 50-year secrecy rule in place – meaning that unless Anwar is announced as the winner in October – there would be no official verification whether a nomination had been made for him until the secrecy period lapses.

Anwar was in 1998 sacked as deputy prime minister by then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and subsequently imprisoned for sodomy as well as on abuse of power charges.This verdict was overturned in 2004, resulting in Anwar's release from prison.

Like his first charge, Anwar claimed that the second was also fabricated by his political rivals. The authorities have denied this.