(AFP) - Students plan to submit a protest memorandum to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad when he officially opens a university campus tomorrow, student sources said.

The sources said student supporters of jailed former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim would appeal in the memo for him to be allowed surgery overseas for a back problem.

The memo would also protest at last week's detention without trial of seven pro-Anwar activists and appeal for their release, the sources said.

Mahathir will officially open the main campus, in the suburb of Gombak, of the International Islamic University. He laid the foundation stone in 1993.

The university itself has been open since 1983 at other campuses.

Anwar, a fiery Islamic youth leader in the 1970s, was president of the university from 1988 until he was sacked by Mahathir in September 1998 and subsequently jailed.

Students unhappy

Ahmad Zaki Yamani Zainon, coordinator of the memorandum, declined to say what points it would make.

But he said some students are unhappy that Mahathir will officially open the campus.

"Anwar played a very significant role in making the university come into existence. Mahathir is trying to steal the credit," he said.

Anwar is serving a total of 15 years in jail after being convicted in separate trials of abuse of power and sodomy. He has been in hospital since November with a slipped disc. A foreign specialist recommends an operation at a specialist clinic overseas.

The government insists that Anwar receive surgery in a local hospital, with specialists and equipment flown in if necessary.