The head of the Malaysian judiciary is unable to help jailed ex-deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim in his request to expedite the Federal Court judgment on his crucial sodomy appeal, which has been put off indefinitely.

Anwar's lawyer Sankara Nair ( photo ) told malaysiakini that chief justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim had informed him that he has no right to instruct his judges on how the handle the appeal.

"I met the chief justice with (lead counsel) Karpal Singh on Tuesday seeking the matter to be expedite but was told that he could not give any direction to the judges as it would tantamount to interfering," said Nair when contacted.

Given this, he said, Anwar will now be appealing directly to the panel of three judges which had heard the appeal to seek for a prompt decision on his sodomy appeal.

"Since the chief justice can't help, we have to go back to the panel of judges that heard the case. I was instructed to sent a letter to the head of the panel, justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad, seeking an appointment next Tuesday to discuss the matter," he said.

He said that attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, who was informed of request for an appointment, will also be present at the meeting.

"This is of course subjected to justice Hamid's approval to meet us. He has yet to reply to our letter," said Sankara.

Last-minute postponement

Anwar is appealing against his nine-year jail sentence for a sodomy offence involving the former driver of his wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Hamid, who heard the appeal in May together with Federal Court judge Rahman Hussein and Court of Appeal judge Tengku Baharuddin Shah Tengku Mahmud, had promised to deliver the judgment "as soon as possible".

Two months later, the court announced that it would deliver its decision on July 22, but in a surprise move, the judgment was put this off indefinitely at the eleventh hour.

No reason was given for the postponement. Since then no new date has been set.

Sankara said his client is very disturbed by the delay and the court's failure to understand his predicament since the delay has a bearing on his deteriorating health condition .

"He wants to know his status before he decide on the treatment. If his appeal is allowed, it means that he will be free to go overseas to seek the treatment of his choice. If not, then he must seriously consider a second-best option," he said.

"My client should not be forced to make such an important decision until he is absolutely sure that the chances of him getting the treatment of his choice is nil."

Excruciating pain

The jailed politician is suffering from excruciating pain from a bad back ailment which requires immediate surgery.

On July 12, he was rushed to the Hospital Kuala Lumpur after developing neurological problems related to a long-standing back injury. He is expected to remain there indefinitely.

The government, which has consistently refused to allow Anwar to seek specialised surgery in Germany, has offered for the operation to be done locally.

Meanwhile, another Federal Court panel - Court of Appeal president Abdul Malek Ahmad, Federal Court judges Siti Norma Yaakob and Allaudin Mohd Sherif - has set Sept 6 to review the court's own decision in rejecting Anwar's appeal against his corruption conviction and the six-year sentence meted out by the High Court.

Anwar, who was sacked in 1998 by then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is currently serving a 15-year jail sentence in Selangor's Sungai Buloh prison.

He has completed his sentence for his first conviction for corruption, and is currently serving the nine-year sentence for sodomy. His application for bail pending his appeal was rejected .