Jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's lawyer today expressed concern on whether the government officials are giving the United Nations (UN) accurate information about the politician's health condition.

Sankara Nair said he discovered that the prisons department and Health Ministry had sent delegates to the UN Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation Social Organisation (Unesco) to brief the international body regarding Anwar.

"I was told that the prisons department had sent delegates, including the Sungai Buloh prison director, to the UN body twice. Anwar's government-appointed physician Dr S Jeyaindran had also gone there twice. But we don't know what kind of reports they presented.

"We wonder if the UN body knows that my client's right to medical treatment had been repeatedly abused. If that had been told, I think the body would have made enquiries from my client or his family," he told malaysiakin i.

Anwar, who suffers from a prolapsed disc, is currently serving a nine-year jail term for corruption and sodomy. He claims the charges were fabricated but the authorities have denied this.

His request to undergo an endoscopic surgery only available in Germany was turned down by the government, which in turn offered him another form of surgery locally.

However, he rejected this offer on the grounds that the surgery would be too risky.

Not baseless

Meanwhile, Sankara claimed that his concern was not baseless as government officials had previously misinformed the International Parliamentarian Union (IPU) that Anwar was receiving special treatment.

"They (government officials) could just tell the UN body that my client has been afforded the best medical treatment with special privileges which is definitely untrue. The government should have told us about their trips to Unesco so that we would know whether they are giving the correct information.

"I urge Malaysian authorities to stop playing politics with Anwar's health. They must not give misleading information just to safeguard the country's image but continue to ignore my client's right as he writhes in pain," he said.

The Health Ministry and the prison authorities were not available for comments.

Detailed reports

To ensure that the UN body is given the correct information, the lawyer said he would be sending detailed reports on Anwar's health development. The first report was sent on Monday.

In the report, which was made available to malaysiakini , Sankara said Malaysian authorities continued to violate Anwar's right to medical treatment of his choice since his incarceration in September 1998.

He also stated that Anwar's bail application would be heard by the Federal Court on May 10 and urged the UN body to pressure the Malaysian government to allow him bail so that he could seek treatment in Germany.

"Of course we are not asking the government to tell the court what to do. They can't do that. But they can tell the Attorney General (AG) not to object the bail application.

"The AG has consistently objected to bail when they have no reason to do so," he said.

Sankara said similar letters were sent to UN Commissioner for Human Rights, British Bar Council and Amnesty International.