The sodomy trial of sacked deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim which was postponed on Nov 10 has been fixed for mention this Saturday.

Gobind Singh Deo, the lawyer representing Sukma Dermawan, Anwar's adopted brother, confirmed this afternoon that he had received a letter from the High Court stating Dec 18 as the mention date for the resumption of trial.

The controversial trial was adjourned on Nov 10, the day the Parliament was dissolved, after High Court judge Ariffin Jaka complained of back pains. The court's deputy registrar later fixed the hearing date on Nov 16 but it was adjourned "indefinitely" without any reason given.

Gobind told malaysiakini that on Saturday, lawyers representing the case and Judge Ariffin would meet to fix a date for the court to resume its hearing.

He, however, refused to speculate on the reasons for the postponement of the previous court hearing, which fell during the election campaign, because it was beyond his jurisdiction.

"As lawyers, we are not in a position to comment on the judge's decision to postpone the case," he said.

Anwar, 52, and Sukma, 38, have been accused of having sodomised Azizan Abu Bakar, the family driver of the former deputy prime minister, in Sukma's apartment in Tivolli Villa, Bangsar. Sukma is also charged with abetting Anwar in sodomising Azizan.

Meanwhile, Pawancheek Merican, one of Anwar's counsels, reiterated that Attorney-General Mohtar Abdullah had indicated his intention to challenge the subpoena issued by the defence counsel for Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed to appear in court.

He added that if the subpoena was accepted, Mahathir would be called in to testify once Anwar and Sukma had both completed their testimonies.

"Mahathir is a rather important witness to this case," said Gobind. "We hope to have him testify although we have not received any news from him yet."