The Court of Appeal today upheld the sodomy conviction of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim and his nine-year jail sentence, and rejected his bail application.

Having failed to quash the High Court decision, Anwar is now expected to spend at least another six years in prison o­n top of the four years he has served for another conviction for corruption.

Arifin's assessment

Justices Pajan Singh Gill, Richard Malanjum and Hashim Mohd Yusof also rejected the appeal by Anwar's co-accused, Indonesian Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja, who was jailed six years and ordered to be whipped four times.

To the surprise of all, the judges revoked the RM50,000 bail granted to Sukma and ordered him to serve his sentence from today.

"We feel that we should be slow to interrupt the finding of facts by the trial judge who had the advantage of assessing the demeanour of the witnesses throughout the proceedings. We therefore unanimously dismiss both appeals," said Justice Pajan in a brief oral judgment.

He had earlier told Anwar's lawyers that the official written judgment would be delivered o­n another day.

As soon as Pajan made his decision, o­ne of Anwar's counsel Karpal Singh ( left ) told the court that they wanted to make a fresh bail application for both Anwar and Sukma.

"With due respect, we cannot accept the court's decision. We are now making an oral application in respect to bail, and would like an hour to get the relevant precedents to support our arguments. The court has to hear them today and make a decision," said Karpal.

Bail being argued

When Pajan told him to file a formal (written) application, Karpal insisted that the court accept their oral application and hear their arguments today. The judge then replied that they needed 15 minutes to consider the matter.

However, 20 minutes later, Anwar was informed by his lawyers that the judges had refused to re-convene and told the lawyers to file a formal application instead. This information upset many of those present, including Anwar.

"What spineless judges. They said 15 minutes and now they refused to see us. They don't even have the guts to defend their decision," said the former deputy premier.

When the lawyers' request to meet the judges in chambers was denied, Anwar and Sukma's defence teams went to the Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim's ( left ) office at 11.15am.

Emerging from Ahmad Fairuz's office, Karpal then informed the press that the three judges have been advised to reconvene.

When the court came in session, Pajan ordered all parties to return at 3pm to make their arguments.

As at press time, the session is currently in progress.

'What do you expect?'

Meanwhile, in response to the judgment, Anwar said: "What do you expect from these junior judges? They have been pre-selected to make this decision. It is all scripted.

"Malaysia is no different from the regimes of (Robert) Mugabe and Saddam Hussein where the judiciary has been used as a political tool."

Anwar, wearing a neck brace and confined to a wheelchair for a few years now because of a worsening back injury, appeared composed. When his supporters started to voice their dissatisfaction loudly, Anwar told his supporters to remain calm and to voice their opposition through the ballot box.

He was later seen hugging and consoling his daughters, Nurul Izzah, Nurul Nuha and Nurul Ilham who were visibly upset.

"We expected this rejection but never like this. We were not told why our arguments were not accepted. No reasons were given. They just rejected it like that. I also feel bad for Uncle Sukma," said Nurul Izzah.

Sukma, who remained in the dock with Anwar, appeared stunned throughout the proceedings.

The court room which was packed with journalists, families of the two accused and supporters was under heavy security with at least 30 police and prison officials.

On Aug 8, 2000, High Court judge Arifin Jaka found Anwar guilty of sodomising Azizan Abu Bakar, the former driver of his wife and opposition Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

He also found Sukma guilty of sodomising Azizan and abetting Anwar but allowed the Indonesian national bail and stay of execution pending appeal.

While Anwar's sodomy jail sentence is nine years, prisoners get a standard o­ne-third remission for good behaviour. Given this, Anwar will be freed o­n April 14, 2009, at the age of 62.

Anwar had just completed his first jail sentence for corruption, having served four years of the six-year jail sentence. He had been told by prison officials that he began serving his sodomy sentence o­n April 14.

Anwar will now have to appeal to the Federal Court, the country's highest judicial authority, to overturn today's decision.