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.