Jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim's appeal against his controversial sodomy conviction which was delivered in August 2000 will finally be heard by the Court of Appeal the country's second highest court next month.

The Court of Appeal's registry informed Anwar's lawyer Sankara Nair ( photo ) yesterday that the court would be hearing the appeal o­n March 24, but made no mention of the judges who are scheduled to hear it.

Nair told malaysiakini that the date is long overdue considering that the conviction and sentence was made almost three years ago. He said he had written six letters urging for a speedy hearing from the Court of Appeal.

The appeal will be heard exactly six days after Anwar's application for a judicial review against the Federal Court's decision to uphold his first charge, where he was found guilty of corruption and was slapped with a six-year jail sentence.

The Federal Court the country's highest court in a rare move will set up a new panel of judges to review its own decision o­n March 18.

Anwar's sodomy trial, said to be o­ne of the longest in the Malaysian legal history, ended o­n Aug 8, 2000 when High Court judge Arifin Jaka found him guilty of sodomising former driver Azizan Abu Bakar in Tivoli Villas, Bangsar at 7.45pm between January and March 1993.

Ariffin jailed him nine years and, much to the outrage of Anwar's supporters, ordered it to run consecutively after the former minister served his six-year jail sentence for his earlier corruption conviction.

Anwar is deemed to have served the six-year sentence for corruption o­n April 14 this year four years after his conviction as prisoners normally get o­ne-third of their jail sentences off for 'good behaviour'.

Date changed twice

The highly contentious 138-day sodomy hearing saw the prosecution team amending the date of the alleged offence twice.

When Arifin delivered his judgment, Anwar chose not to appeal for leniency but instead claimed that his sodomy charge was politically motivated and based o­n false evidence.

"I am a victim of political conspiracy through a web of intrigue orchestrated by the maestro (Prime Minister) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad). Despite strenuous appeals, my counsel were prevented from questioning this witness. The pronouncement of your judgment today was a mere formality according to the pre-ordained script of the conspirators," he said from the dock.

"This is a conviction based o­n conjecture and imagination. It has no legal basis. It is unjust, disgraceful and revolting," he said.