Anwar expects early return to jail

Anwar expects early return to jail

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysia's former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim expects to be sent back to jail from hospital this week after refusing spinal surgery on terms set by the government, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

Anwar, the former deputy-turned-rival of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, is serving a 15-year sentence for crimes he denies and has been holding out for surgery in Germany for a slipped disc.

He has been at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital since late November after being moved there from the Sungai Buloh prison when he complained of back pains.

The government has refused to let Anwar, whom the United States calls a political prisoner, travel abroad. It has told him to undergo surgery at the hospital or return to prison for conservative treatment, meaning physiotherapy and painkillers.