Anwar Ibrahim’s appeal against the Court of Appeal decision has hit a serious snag with the Federal Court hustling the opposition leader’s lawyers into filing the necessary papers before the legally required timeline.

the charge against anwar ibrahim sodomy allegation trial 070808 Anwar’s appeal to the Federal Court will be his final chance to secure documents and other evidence which he claimed are crucial to his defence against the sodomy charges.

According to defence lawyer Sankara Nair in a press statement today, the Federal Court Registry had informed him by fax on Tuesday that it had fixed Jan 6 as the date of hearing for the appeal.

In the same letter of notification, his legal firm was asked to file the Petition of Appeal on an urgent basis.

“My firm was taken aback by this development because the Record of Appeal had yet to be served on us at date of notification.”

Recapitulating the events leading to the situation, the statement said the legal firm eventually received the Record of Appeal and the Additional Record of Appeal yesterday.

Nair pointed out that the rules of the Federal Court require the firm to file a Petition of Appeal within 10 days after service of the documents.

Impossible for court to hear appeal on Jan 6

Under the circumstances, the petition must be filed by Jan 9, which is a Saturday and the following day a Sunday – both public holidays. Therefore, the date for the petition to be filed would be Jan 11.

“It is (thus) impossible under the circumstances for the hearing of the appeal to proceed on Jan 6,” the statement said.

On top of all that Nair has left for India on Dec 28, and is only due to return late on Jan 5.

“The procedure adopted in relation to the matter herein is certainly unprecedented and does not and cannot serve the end of justice,” the statement said.

The Federal Court will need to make its decision on the appeal before the High Court begins hearing the sodomy trial, which is scheduled to run for one month, from Jan 25 to Feb 25.

On July 16, in a rare victory for Anwar , the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered the prosecution to hand over certain documents, including copies of witness statements, CCTV recordings and medical reports to the defence team.

However, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court's decision last month, allowing the prosecution's appeal against the High Court decision and dismissing Anwar's cross appeal.

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