High Court judge Arifin Jaka this afternoon brushed aside protests from the defence team in the sodomy trial of sacked deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim to close its case and for final submissions to be made on June 21.

"My hands are tied and I have to proceed. I fix the case on June 21 and you can come back and submit," Arifin told lead defence counsel Christopher Fernando when hearing resumed this afternoon.

Earlier, Fernando told the judge that the defence was unable to close its case as the Federal Court has yet to decide on the appeal filed by Anwar against Arifin's ruling that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad need not testify in the trial after the Court of Appeal upheld this ruling last Monday.

"At this point of time we are not able to close our case. It will all depend very much on the outcome of the appeal. Our position is that whether or not we would be calling witnesses related to the prime minister's evidence is dependant on the outcome of the appeal," Fernando said.

Arifin, however, said that his dilemma is that the defence's application for a stay of proceedings was not allowed by the Court of Appeal.

"Under these circumstances, I deem it that the defence's case is closed," he said, adding that the defence could however file an application to call in other witnesses should they decide before they submit when the trial resumes.

Fernando later told malaysiakini outside the courtroom that it was impossible for the defence to close its case before the disposal of the decision by the Federal Court.

"The judge is closing our case but it cannot be closed. We have outstanding witnesses. We feel the procedure is wrong but we have to abide by the ruling," he said.

Anwar has argued in affidavits earlier this year that Mahathir's evidence was crucial to the trial, alleging that he (Mahathir) was involved in a conspiracy to topple him (Anwar).

He said that the evidence of Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin, Deputy Education Minister Aziz Shamsuddin and former minister Megat Junid Megat Ayob would only be relevant if Mahathir was called in to the court to testify.

The prime minister, however, in reply to Anwar's affidavits denied that he was involved in such a conspiracy and said that Anwar's intention to call him as a witness was in bad faith and an abuse of the court process.

Anwar is being charged with forcing sex on his wife's former driver Azizan Abu Bakar with the aid of adopted brother Sukma Dermawan Saasmitat Madja, at Sukma's apartment in Tivoli Villas, Bangsar on "one night at 7.45pm between January and March, 1993".

The sodomy trial, which began on June 7 last year, entered its 108th day today and is considered one of the longest criminal cases in the nation's history.

Anwar, one-time heir apparent to the prime minister's post, is currently serving a six-year jail term for corruption relating to abuse of power while in office as deputy prime minister.

He is also awaiting an appeal filed at the Federal Court, the country's highest court, against the Court of Appeal's decision on April 29 to uphold his conviction and jail sentence imposed by High Court judge Augustine Paul on April 14 last year.