Jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim's wife is hanging on to the hope that there will be a family reunion to coincide with the mid-autumn festival, a Chinese occasion that symbolises reform and reunion.

The festival - popularly known as the mooncake or lantern festival - falls on the 15th day of the

eighth month of the lunar calendar, or Sept 28 in the Gregorian calender this year.

"I hope and pray that my family will be reunited after the Federal Court decision tomorrow on Anwar's sodomy appeal," she told reporters at Parliament.

She said this after unveiling Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)'s mooncake which features the words lie huo mo xi (or reformasi). A box of the mooncakes will be sent to premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Wan Azizah, who is also PKR president, said Anwar has signed an indemnity letter to attend court tomorrow.

"He will bear the risk because the decision has been postponed so many times already," she said.

The Kuala Lumpur Hospital - where Anwar has been warded since July 12 - has declared the ex-deputy premier as being medically unfit to attend court. He was admitted after his condition worsened as a result of a slipped disc.

Anwar's appeal against a nine-year jail term for a sodomy offence involving the former driver of his wife in 1993 has been postponed twice. Tomorrow's decision will be crucial as the Federal Court Anwar's last avenue for freedom.

'Free Anwar' call

PKR vice-president Tian Chua, who was present, said party supporters will gather outside the court building tomorrow to lend support. He also expects international observers to attend the proceedings.

On the possible outcome, he said: "(Ex-premier Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad) is still behind Abdullah... Abdullah can push for certain reforms but very limited ones."

Tian Chua said the mid-autumn festival is a meaningful one that has close links with the struggle for justice.

The custom of distributing and eating mooncakes began in the late Yuan dynasty. The Han people resented the notorious Mongol rule of the Yuan regime.

Revolutionaries, led by Chu Yuan Zhang, plotted to usurp the throne. Chu needed to find a way of uniting the people to revolt on the same day without letting the Mongol rulers learn of the plan.

He inserted a note to "revolt on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon" and distributed the mooncake to the Han people. The message spread and the Mongol rulers were overthrown.

"In 1999 at the height of reformasi, Malaysian activists celebrated the festival by marching to Dataran Merdeka. We hung up lanterns bearing the reformasi slogan," Tian recalled.

Meanwhile, Anwar's counsel and Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh has urged that Anwar be freed. He said this during the debate following the second reading of the Courts of Judicature Act in the Dewan Rakyat this afternoon.

DAP chairperson and Ipoh Timur MP Lim Kit Siang also called on the court to be transparent and to explain why Anwar's decision has been postponed twice.