Anwar Ibrahim today filed a notice of appeal against a court's refusal of his application to recuse trial judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah from hearing his sodomy trial.

The notice of appeal was filed through legal firm Messrs SN Nair & Partners at the High Court registry in Kuala Lumpur.

anwar ibrahim sodomy allegation saiful bukhari azlan first day in court 070808 sankara nair A copy of the notice was also sent to the Court of Appeal registry in Putrajaya, lawyer Sankara Nair ( right ) told reporters.

Yesterday, in dismissing the opposition leader's recusal application, Mohamad Zabidin ruled that there was no reason for him to recuse himself from continuing to preside over the case, saying that if he were to do that, it would be tantamount to running away from his responsibility.

He said a judge was bound by his oath and should not run away from responsibilities entrusted upon him.

The judge set March 25 for mention of the sodomy case, pending the disposal of the appeal.

Refuses to cite Utusan for contempt

On Feb 8, Anwar filed the application on the grounds of bias after Mohamad Zabidin refused to entertain requests by Anwar's lead counsel Karpal Singh to cite Utusan Malaysia for contempt.

Anwar, 63, who is PKR advisor and member of parliament for Permatang Pauh, is charged with sodomising Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, his former aide, at Unit 11-5-1 of the Desa Damansara Condominium in Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara, between 3.01pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.

The charge under section 377B of the Penal Code carries a maximum 20 years' jail and whipping upon conviction

The sodomy trial started on Feb 3 and the defence was to have cross-examined Mohd Saiful when Karpal made the application for recusal.

Meanwhile, the Federal Court has fixed next Thursday to hear Anwar's review application to gain more evidence and documentation for his defence team to prepare for the trial.

Mohd Zabidin had on July 16 allowed the application to compel the prosecution to provide the witness list of documents, evidence, CCTV recordings, and medical reports to the case.

However, the prosecution was successful in getting the Court of Appeal to overturn the High Court decision. Subsequently, the appeal went all the way up to the Federal Court where it upheld the appellate court's decision on Jan 29.

Next week, the Federal Court will decide on whether to review its own decision.

- Bernama