Jailed ex-deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has sent an application to the prisons department seeking permission to have his slipped disc examined by his own medical specialist, said his lawyer Sankara Nair.

Sankara told malaysiakini that the letter was sent to the Sungai Buloh prison director Hassan Sakimon this afternoon seeking his green light to get a second opinion on his current health condition which has recently worsen.

The lawyer said they decided to make the application following Anwar's complaint of "renewed severe back pain" that has been recurring over the past three weeks.

Anwar suffers from a slipped disc in his back, said to be due to the beating he suffered soon after his arrest in 1998. He attends court hearings in a wheelchair and wears a neck brace. He has since appealed to undergo an operation which is available only in Germany.

Sankara said he was first told of the recurring pain when he visited Anwar on Aug 6.

"I was quite alarmed as he (Anwar) had been tolerating the pain with minimal complaint. But the condition has not improved and we feel it is only right to seek a second opinion," Sankara said.

He had also noticed that Anwar's gait and posture appeared unusually strained.

Similar 2000 condition

Sankara stressed that the application was not intended to dispute the recommendation of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) medical team who is now observing Anwar's health.

"We observe that the recurrence of severe pain and trauma appears similar to that of 2000 when the slipped disc condition was first diagnosed.

"Therefore we think it is only fair that he be given access to a team of medical specialists of our choice," he said.

Sankara hoped the department would take action on Anwar's application as soon as possible.

Anwar was previously warded in HKL for more than eight months beginning November 2000 over his slipped disc problem. He wants to undergo a specific endoscopic surgery in Germany but the government rejected this, stating that the treatment for his condition was available locally.

Health Minister Chua Jui Meng was quoted in May 2001 as saying that Anwar "received the best, the most extensive, the most unprecedented treatment for a slipped disc in the entire history of medical services in this country."

The former deputy premier is serving a nine-year jail sentence for a sodomy offence which he has appealed against.

Anwar and his adopted brother Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja are seeking bail pending their appeals against the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision to convict them for sodomising Azizan Abu Bakar, the former driver of Anwar's wife Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

In 2001, the politician was jailed nine years while Sukma was given six years and four strokes of the rotan

He is currently awaiting a Court of Appeal decision on his bail application citing his health as one of the main reasons.