The Federal Court today rejected an application by jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim to disqualify two of the three judges hearing his final appeal against his sodomy conviction and another for bail application.

The court ruled that there were no basis for the application, prompting Anwar to tell the court that he wanted to reconsider pursuing his appeals further.

"I am considering to withdraw the appeals as I have no confidence with the judges who are to hear my appeals. I see no point in continuing these proceedings. Your Lordships surely understand my predicament as my counsel's arguments were not even properly addressed. What we are saying is that why more senior and qualified Federal Court judges were ignored," he said.

"It is a foregone conclusion. It is a facade. There is not going to be a fair trial," he added in frustration.

Hearing this, Federal Court judge Abdul Hamid Mohamad, the most senior on the three-member bench, adjourned the matter to enable Anwar to consult his lawyers.

During the 30-minutes break, the lawyers managed to convince Anwar to continue with his appeals.

'Anwar a threat'

Earlier, Anwar's lawyers had applied to the three-member bench to recuse two of them, one of whom was Abdul Hamid.

The other judge that they sought to disqualify was Court of Appeal judge Tengku Baharudin Shah Tengku Mahmud. The third judge on the panel is Federal Court judge Rahmah Hussein.

The reason cited for the application to disqualify Abdul Hamid was that he, in his judgment in another unrelated corruption case in 2003, had referred to Anwar as a threat to public order.

Anwar's lawyers also said Tengku Baharudin - who had been brought in from the appellate court to hear the case - as being 'too junior' to hear the matter and 'it will be unfair to force him to decide upon a judgment made by his seniors'.

Delivering his ruling against Anwar's application, Justice Abdul Hamid assured Anwar that his appeal would be heard and judged fairly adding that his sentiment expressed in the earlier unrelated case would not cloud his mind in deliberating the current appeal.

"I did not say that Datuk Seri Anwar deserved the six-year imprisonment sentence in that case. In any event, the statement can never affect the judgment of this court and even my judgment in this case against regarding (the) conviction," he said.

"A conviction can only be sustained if all ingredients of the offence are proved and not for any other reason."

He assured Anwar ( right, file photo ) that he would keep an open mind in hearing submissions from both the defence and prosecution teams.

"I think the bottom line lies with the judge. He must ask his conscience - something that all judges must have - whether he can give a fair and unbiased hearing and an honest judgment," said Justice Abdul Hamid.

"On my part, I accept that I am not perfect, but then who is? But I have no doubt that I would be able to give the appellant (Anwar) a fair hearing and an honest judgment, otherwise, I would recuse myself, which I have done before," he added.

Alibi notice accepted

Justice Tengku Baharuddin said the federal constitution allows a Court of Appeal judge to sit at the Federal Court.

"It is not a strange practice and has been done time and again, It does not affect the credibility of this court. It does not matter who the judge is - be him a junior or a senior - but what is important is that he deliberate the case based solely on facts and arguments," he said.

Before the court adjourned for the day, defence lawyers managed to persuade the prosecution to concede that they had been served an alibi notice by Anwar - a key defence for the fallen politician.

Confusion had arisen last year when the appeal was before the Court of Appeal and whether the judges had received copies of Anwar's alibi notice.

While Anwar's lawyers insisted that they had submitted the copies through a court officer, the court records showed no trace of the documents.

As such, the appellate court justices did not hear the matter then and this will be a crucial point for the defence lawyers to raise in the current Federal Court appeal.

The notice of alibi sought to show that Anwar was elsewhere when the sodomy offence was committed.

The court resumes hearing of the case tomorrow.

Tight security

Meanwhile, the public and media representatives present today at the court premises in Putrajaya were surprised by the extremely tight security measures imposed by police.

Apart from the usual practice of having to surrender identity cards and hand phones to the police at the main court entrance, another security checkpoint was installed just outside the courtroom.

Everyone, with the exception of lawyers and diplomats, was asked to empty their pockets and bags for security checks.