Jailed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was set to represent himself in the Federal Court today for the first time in his suit against Utusan Malaysia but case management on the matter this morning was taken off the schedule.

One of his former counsel, Michelle Yesudas, who had appeared in court today to make sure the handover process to Anwar went on smoothly, said nobody was informed that the matter would not come up in court today.

The order to produce Anwar in court, which had previously been approved, was cancelled, Michelle said, adding that she was not given any detail on this matter as well.

"We were told that the case had been taken out," she told reporters outside the Federal Court in Putrajaya today.

Michelle ( photo ) said she had not received any information that the case had been taken out of the list of cases before the court today until she arrived in the court and was informed by a senior assistant registrar.

Though she pressed for more details, she said, the officer refused to provide any on the basis that she was no longer representing Anwar in the matter.

Yesterday, lawyers N Surendran and Latheefa Koya announced that Anwar would be representing himself in court for the Utusan suit and in several other cases as well.

This came after further restrictions were placed on Anwar's access to his lawyers in prison.

Surendran, who is also Padang Serai MP, said that Anwar's access to his lawyers were now restricted to only one hour a week.

He pointed out that this was inadequate as Anwar was currently involved in 16 different ongoing cases.

"In these circumstances, Anwar has no alternative but to discharge us from further acting for him in several of the cases.

"He will now represent himself in those cases," Surendran said.

Appeal dismissed

Anwar won his suit against Utusan and its chief editor Abdul Aziz Ishak in 2013 following the daily's article, citing his interview with the BBC in 2012, that he supported the rights of lesbians, gays, transexuals and bisexuals.

The daily was ordered to pay Anwar RM200,000 in damages.

It was previously reported that Utusan wanted to cite Anwar's conviction to reduce the quantum of damages but this was dismissed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Hue Siew Kheng.

Utusan then appealed to a higher court to include Anwar's sodomy conviction in its bid to reduce the quantum of damages paid to Anwar but the Court of Appeal threw out this application.

The lawyer representing Utusan , Wan Azmir Wan Majid, said when contacted this afternoon: "The adjournment was based on the rescheduling of case."

The lawyers are yet to be informed on the new date for the case management, he said.

According to both Wan Azmir and Michelle, Anwar will have to attend the case management as he has chosen to represent himself.