PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim can now proceed with his qazaf (bearing false witness) appeals that have been pending before the syariah court.

This comes with a three-member panel headed by Kuala Lumpur Syariah Court of Appeal judge Md Yusup Che Teh rejecting the appeal by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom and two others to strike out Anwar’s pending qazaf appeals.

In the unanimous decision, the court ordered the names of former director-general Che Mat Che Ali and former chief prosecutor Shamsuddin Hussain to be removed, while their previous positions be maintained for the case management to be held.

Among the reasons cited in the application filed in May last year was that Che Mat (photo) had retired from the Federal Territory Islamic Department (Jawi), while Shamsuddin had been transferred to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Another reason cited in the application was that the Federal Court had already found Anwar guilty in the Sodomy II case last year.

However, the Syariah Court of Appeal ruled that decisions made by the civil courts were not binding on cases under the syariah court.

“The civil court does not have jurisdiction over any matter under the syariah court.

“But we agree, however, that whatever decision made, whether by the civil or syariah court, must be respected by both institutions," Judge Md Yusuf said.

Case management within 21 days

The judge also explained the difference in the subject matters. The Federal Court’s decision was on the offence of sodomy while Anwar’s qazaf appeal was on prosecuting Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan for failing to provide four witnesses in his sodomy allegation.

Judge Md Yusup then fixed for case management of Anwar's qazad appeal to be heard within 21 days from today, in front of the court registrar.

Anwar had applied to the Syariah Court of Appeal to review the Syariah High Court decision of April 2010 that struck out his qazaf application.

The former parliamentary opposition leader, who had filed the application in 2010, wants Jawi and its chief prosecutor to take action on Saiful under qazaf, for allegedly lying and not coming up with the four required witnesses to verify his sodomy allegation.