An Islamic scholar, convicted of "allowing himself to be sodomised" by Anwar Ibrahim in 1998, has asked the authorities to review his conviction following the withdrawal of similar charges against the latter last Saturday.

Dr Munawar Ahmad Anees said that one of the five withdrawn charges against the ex-deputy premier concerned an alleged act of sodomy with him and the withdrawal "vindicated my consistent stand that I and Anwar were innocent of the trumped up allegations".

Munawar, who was also Anwar's speech writer, conveyed his request through his lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon.

Manjeet said the withdrawal of charges against the former deputy prime minister indicated that the prosecution had no evidence to pursue the case.

He added that Munawar felt the case against him had done him a grave injustice and it needed to be "righted and that his name and reputation be restored".

Munawar, along with Anwar's adopted brother Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja, were convicted after they had pleaded guilty on Sept 19, 1998 to "allowing themselves to be sodomised" by Anwar Ibrahim, They were sentenced to six months' jail each.

They were said to have committed the offences at Anwar's residences in 1993 and 1998 but no specific dates or time were given.

"The harm and damage done to his life can never be put right. But this small step by the authorities will go some way towards righting what was, in the first instance, a grave miscarriage of justice," said Manjeet.

'Severe torture'

He added that the authorities can correct the situation in various way and one would be by not objecting to Munawar's appeal to the High Court against his conviction and sentencing.

Although it has been more than two years since Munawar's sentencing, the High Court has yet to fix a date to hear his appeal, he said.

"When the appeal comes up, it will be within the powers of the prosecutors to concede their case and let Munawar go as a free man," said Manjeet.

Munawar had claimed later that he pleaded guilty to the charge following "severe torture by the police".

"He had sworn a statutory declaration on November 1999 tabulating exhaustively and in detail the acts of the Special Branch of the Malaysian police when they arrested him and through acts that bordered on the inhumane, made him plead guilty under very questionable circumstances," said Manjeet.

On Saturday, justice Augustine Paul acquitted and discharged Anwar on his five remaining charges, four on sodomy and one on corrupt practice, following an application by the prosecution. The prosecution did not give any reasons for doing so.

The sodomy charges included alleged acts of sodomy with Munawar and Sukma.

Anwar is presently undergoing a 15-year jail sentence for corruption and sodomy. His appeals against the conviction and sentencing for both crimes are still pending at the higher courts.