Anwar leaves jail for family funeral

Anwar leaves jail for family funeral

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's sacked deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim was allowed on Sunday to leave jail for his brother's funeral.

An opposition spokesman said the family was told only about 30 minutes beforehand that Anwar would be allowed to attend and the burial was delayed till he arrived under the guard of police and prison warders.

The Alternative Front, whose candidate for premier in the Nov. 29 polls is Anwar, has slammed the government over the case, saying they refused appeals to let him see his brother Mohamad Rani Ibrahim before he died of lung cancer on Saturday. He was 62.

Anwar met his mother and wife Azizah Ismail at the Islamic ceremony in a Kuala Lumpur suburb and shook hands with mourners before being whisked back to jail.