The Federal Court has allowed itself to become a puppet of the state after dismissing former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's appeal against his corruption conviction, said Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua.

"The rejection of Anwar's appeal ends all illusion that the system is about to reform itself. Just like his predecessors, the Chief Justice failed to display the courage to defy political instruction from Putrajaya.

"This failure implies that the judiciary has allowed itself to be an accomplice of the state's repressive regime," Chua said in a statement, made available to malaysiakini today from Suaram, a human rights non governmental organisation.

The Federal Court comprising Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, Chief Judge of the High Courts of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim and Federal Court judge Haidar Mohd Noor dismissed Anwar's appeal against his 1998 corruption conviction, ruling that the Federal Court saw no reason to interfere with trial judge Augustine Paul's decision.

Anwar was sentenced to six years' jail by Paul in April 1999. He was slapped a further nine years by Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Arifin Jaka after being found guilty of sodomy. He is serving both convictions consecutively at the Sungai Buloh prison in Selangor.

Campaign to rescue judiciary

Chua added that "so long as the government continues to interfere in judicial processes, our legal institutions will never be able to restore its independence".

"We anticipate more opponents and critics of the government will be persecuted under the law and we cannot delude that the judicial system will break free from political domination," he said.

Chua and five other Keadilan and reformasi activists are now detained under the Internal Security Act for alleged involvement in a militant attempt to overthrow the government. They are held at the Kamunting detention centre in Perak.

Chua also called on political parties and civil society groups to defend the independence of the judiciary and prevent it from being "abused and controlled by political interests".

"It's time for us to revive our morale. The political parties and civil organisations should consolidate efforts to launch a massive campaign to rescue the judiciary.

"The judiciary is one of the pillars of democracy and an important foundation for social, economic and political justice of a nation," Chua added.