High Court judge Arifin Jaka in the sodomy trial of sacked deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has granted leave for the defence to file an appeal on his Friday's ruling that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad need not appear in court as a witness.

"I grant the stay of proceeding on condition that you go and file the appeal immediately," Arifin told the defence before adjourning the trial this morning for mention this Friday.

Earlier, Anwar, clad in a white long-sleeved shirt, stood up from the dock to address the judge immediately after the hearing resumed this morning.

"I apply to Your Lordship to review your ruling not to call Dr. Mahathir as a witness," Anwar said. "The ruling has prejudiced my case."

Arifin, however, told the court that the accused (Anwar) was not following procedures by asking him (Arifin) to review the ruling.

"I want your counsel to address me. Go and look at the procedures. There is no procedure to review a ruling," Arifin said.

At this point, lead defence counsel Christopher Fernando told the judge that the ruling had placed the defence at a "considerable disadvantage" and would apply for an appeal.

"We feel that there is an element of finality to this ruling and we wish to pursue the matter," said Fernando.

"In the interest of justice, we apply that a stay of proceeding be allowed so that the defence is given an opportunity to exhaust all legal avenues before proceeding further in this case, bearing in mind that the charge against the accused is a serious charge dependent almost entirely on the evidence of one solitary, totally unreliable witness," he added.

Another defence lawyer, Karpal Singh, then told the judge that the court had been discriminatory as the prime minister had made no application to set aside the subpoena served on him, unlike the cases of Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin and Deputy Education Minister Aziz Shamsuddin.

"The issue we wish to take is that there was no application by the prime minister to set aside the subpoena and whether the court can go out of its way to set aside the subpoena for him," Karpal said.

Lead prosecutor Abdul Gani Patail stood up and objected, saying that the ruling by the judge was not an appealable matter, and therefore he objected to the stay on the proceeding.

Karpal, however, continued and told the judge that the court had acted unconstitutionally by giving the prime minister "special treatment".

"The question to be referred would be whether this amounts to discrimination by the court in calling upon the defence to show relevance of this witness (Mahathir). As citizens, we are equal and the court of justice should not discriminate," Karpal added.

Fernando later told reporters outside the courtroom that the defence would file an appeal with a certificate of urgency at the Court of Appeal later today. "The trial will only resume after the appeal hearing is over and the verdict is out," he added. Last Friday, judge Arifin said that there was no evidence to show or even suggest that Mahathir was involved in a conspiracy to fabricate evidence of sodomy against Anwar as alleged by the defence, and ruled that the prime minister need not appear in court as witness. Immediately after the judge's ruling, Anwar threatened to abandon his trial as he told his counsel that his chances of succeeding were now (without the evidence by Mahathir) "next to zero". The defence told Arifin that they needed time to reconsider their next step as the testimony of rest of their witnesses, including Daim, Aziz, former consumer affairs minister Megat Junid Megat Ayob and his wife, Ziela Jalil, would be relevant only if Mahathir was allowed to testify in the trial. Anwar, currently serving a six-year jail term for corruption, is on trial for sodomy and sexual misconduct which is punishable by up to 20 years in jail. He and and his adopted brother Sukma Dermawan are charged with sodomising his wife's former driver Azizan Abu Bakar at Sukma's apartment in Tivolli Villas, Bangsar on "one night at 7.45pm, between January and March, 1993". The one-time heir apparent to the prime minister post has repeatedly denied all charges and said they were fabricated by political rivals to end his political career.