Two judges who convicted former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of sodomy II at the Court of Appeal have today been elevated to the Federal Court.

Justice Balia Yusof Wahi, who led the three-member bench at the appellate court and Justice Aziah Ali, who was the second judge in the panel, were promoted to the highest court in the country.

They were appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong today in a ceremony held at Istana Negara where they received the instruments of appointment as reported by Bernama , and are scheduled to get their letter of appointment at a ceremony to be held before Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria this afternoon.

They are among the 16 judges who were promoted and have received their appointment letters.

Justice Balia and Justice Aziah replaced former Federal Court judge Justice Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha who has retired and Justice Mohamed Apandi Ali ( photo ) who has been appointed as attorney-general.

There is another vacancy in the Federal Court following the retirement of Justice Abdull Hamid Embong.

Justice Balia was the most senior judge in the Court of Appeal while Justice Aziah was the third most senior.

Both had previously served in various capacities in the government, such as deputy public prosecutor and senior federal counsel, before being appointed as judges.

There new appointments to the Court of Appeal are Justices Zaleha Yusof, Kamardin Hashim, Mary Lim Thiam Suan, Yaacob Md Sam, Zabariah Mohd Yusof, Hasnah Mohammed Hashim, Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil and Asmabi Mohamad.

Justice Zabariah was the High Court judge in Seremban who granted custody of two children to S Deepa in the bitter interfaith custody battle, while Justice Zaleha was the one who upheld the decision on the RM5,000 fine imposed by the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board on senior lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Meanwhile, Justice Harminder was the judge who ruled against a claim by former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram over his library books against his former partner, and Justice Hasnah, a former Federal Court registrar, is known for striking out the RM2 million suit by the widow of P Balasubramaniam against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, his wife Rosmah Mansor and seven others.

Five high court judges confirmed

Five judicial commissioners were also confirmed as High Court judges.

They are Justices Siti Khatijah Syed Hassan Badjenid, Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab, S Nantha Balan, Abu Bakar Jais and Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali.

Justice Zaki recently struck out the suit filed by former Langkawi Umno member Anina Saadudin against Najib over the RM2.6 billion donation, and also the suit by PKR over the same matter on allegedly flouting election regulations.

Justice Nantha presided over Anina's suit against Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and Umno organising secretary Abdul Rauf Yusoh, challenging the status of her party membership.

Meanwhile, Justice Siti Khatijah allowed a defamation suit by lawyer Rosli Dahlan against the New Straits Times and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), where each were ordered to pay RM150,000.