Anwar Ibrahim's lawyers insist that the law stipulates that the final decision on whether the jailed opposition leader can attend the Dewan Rakyat sitting next week lies with the home minister.

"This is clear from Section 31 of the Prison’s Act 1995 which says the director- general (of the prisons department) has the power to direct a person serving a prison sentence to be taken to any place if there reasonable grounds to do so," said lawyers N Surendran and Latheefa Koya in a press release today.

They add that Section 13(1) of the Prisons Act explicitly mentions that the Prisons director-general is responsible to the home minister.

“From the above, there is not a shadow of a doubt that Home Minister Zahid Hamidi has the ‘final say’,” they said.

Yesterday, Zahid said that the final decision lies with the Pardons Board and that the matter was also subject to legal interpretations by the speaker of the Dewan Rakyat and the attorney-general.

“Zahid’s statement is shocking, incomprehensible and a direct contradiction of the Prisons Act 1995.

“We are astonished at the lengths to which the home minister is prepared to go in order to evade responsibility regarding the attendance of the leader of the opposition at Parliament,” they said.

Anwar, who was jailed last month after being convicted of sodomy, is still Permatang Pauh MP and opposition leader pending a decision on his royal pardon bid.

His representatives have already replied to letters, confirming his attendance in Parliament next week.

PKR’s Johari Abdul has also written to speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia, urging him to make a stand, although the speaker will not be back in Malaysia until March 8.