A group of Anwar Ibrahim's "old friends" have submitted a petition to King Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin outlining the reasons why the former deputy prime minister deserves a royal pardon.

The group, comprising former high-ranking government servants, told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today that they submitted the document to Istana Negara yesterday afternoon.

They cited four main reasons why Anwar deserved the pardon.

  1. Anwar served his prison sentence for a period longer than the normal practice.

  • He suffered injuries while in police custody.

  • The court's decision on his first charge became irrelevant when its decision on the second charge was set aside.

  • Precedents have been set in granting royal pardons.

    • The chairperson of the Secretariat for Royal Pardon of Anwar (Sepa), Mohd Zaki Abdul Rahman ( photo, left ) told reporters that the reason they were doing this was to enable the former deputy premier to lead a normal life if pardoned.

    He clarified that it was not a political move for the group to seek Anwar's pardon but rather motivated by a concern for an "old friend".

    Anwar is barred from holding public office until 2008 under laws governing convicted criminals.

    Important signatories

    Mohd Zaki added that Article 42 of the Federal Constitution allows a third party to seek a royal pardon.

    "Anwar is not a signatory in the petition. He did not ask us to do this but is aware that we have submitted it," added Mohd Zaki, who is a former director-general of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

    There are 14 signatories in the petition, signed on behalf of 1,236 petition supporters who attended a conference on May 1 this year to discuss the move.

    Among the signatories were Prof Dr Nik Mohd Zain Nik Yusof - a former secretary-general of the Ministry of Land and Cooperative Development, Ahmad @ Ahmed Ismail - a former secretary-general of the Home Affairs Ministry, A Aziz Deraman - a former Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka director-general and Syed Othman Syd Mohd - an Abim officer.

    Acknowledging that the committee comprises of Umno members as well, Mohd Zaki reiterated that it was not an official move by any political party.

    Asked if they were worried of a party backlash - as Anwar had been sacked by Umno - he said that "there aren't any restrictions, as far as I know, for members to embark on such a move to submit the petition".

    Remission

    Sepa secretary Md Radzi Mustapha said one issue they were appealing on was the common practice of granting a one-third prison sentence remission and this was not accorded to Anwar.

    "Based on our calculation, Anwar spent more than an extra year serving his sentence. He served the full six-year sentence for the corruption charge." added Md Radzi, a lawyer.

    Anwar was convicted of the corruption charge soon after his arrest in 1998. He was also found guilty of sodomy by the court.

    However, in September 2004, the Federal Court overturned his sodomy conviction and sentence, releasing the former Umno deputy president.

    Md Radzi argued today that since the sodomy charge was quashed, the corruption conviction "holds not ground". Anwar's appeal to the Federal Court to overturn it failed in the same month.

    The group said it has not discussed on its next course of action if the royal pardon appeal is rejected.

    Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Anwar's wife and leader of the opposition Parti Rakyat Keadilan, said they were hopeful that the pardon would be granted.

    "If he gets a pardon then he will (be) in the political arena of Malaysia. Now he cannot participate actively in politics, but with the pardon he will definitely be able to do that," she told AFP .