On the eve of Hari Raya, about 100 supporters gathered outside the Sungai Buloh prison to show solidarity with jailed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

This is his second year celebrating Hari Raya behind bars.

The group gathered at the intersection outside the prison at 9pm, though the road leading to the prison gate had been barricaded.

The participants who were in high spirits, lit torches and candles, and placed them around the intersection as they waited for Anwar's family to arrive.

They erected a mock display of a prison cell, where supporters took turns taking pictures “behind bars”.

As PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar was giving her speech, an older woman rushed forward to hand her a lemang and a packet of Raya cookies.

"Ah Soh (Aunty) has also given me a copy of the ‘Three Kingdoms’ book,” smiled Nurul.

"She said, 'I have to deliver this book to Anwar and to the entire Pakatan leadership. Clearly you have not been utilising the best strategies in the war against BN. So please read ‘The Three Kingdoms’," Nurul said, referring to the woman who handed her the Raya gifts.

She said the woman, Gan Siew Kin, had been their supporter since 1998.

Gan told Malaysiakini that she had been searching for an English translation of the book for a while and eventually her friend found it for her in Beijing.

‘The Romance of the Three Kingdom’ is a historical novel set in the turbulent period of China about 1,200 years ago when the empire was divided into three warring kingdoms.

"I gave them the cookies and food because it's Raya," said Gan.

Along with the supporters, various opposition leaders also attended, including PKR president and Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, PKR vice-president Tian Chua, Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, Padang Serai MP N Surendran and Hulu Kelang assemblyperson Saari Sungib, among others.

Cartoonist Zunar was also there, along with singer Dayangku Intan, who belted out a couple of Hari Raya songs to entertain the crowd.

Fireworks were set off towards the end of the event, as the supporters clamoured to take pictures with the prominent figures.

Wan Azizah said that last year, they were only allowed to visit Anwar on the fifth day of Raya.

"This year, they said we could visit him on the second day of Raya," she said.

Anwar is serving a five-year jail sentence after he was convicted of sodomy – his second sodomy charge in a decade - in a trial denounced by human rights defenders.