Anwar hopes seeks bail for treatment

Anwar hopes seeks bail for treatment

MALAYSIA: Malaysia's jailed ex-deputy prime minister Anwar
Ibrahim's hopes to be bailed on Monday to seek medical treatment
abroad, his lawyer said.

Sankara Nair, Anwar's lawyer told AFP on Sunday that the once
heir apparent, would attend the Court of Appeal hearing despite
severe back pain.

"He is not well but his spirits are high. He is expecting a
fair hearing," Nair told AFP. "We hope our client can go home and
not remain in jail," he said.

Anwar is being held at the Sungai Buloh prison north of the
capital Kuala Lumpur where he is serving the first year of a
nine-year jail term for sodomy after completing four years for
corruption. Anwar is appealing against his sodomy conviction and
the sentence.

Once seen as heir to former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad,
Anwar claims he was sacked and charged to prevent a political
challenge to Mahathir.

The United States and human rights group Amnesty International
list him as a political prisoner. -- AFP