KOTA KINABALU: Nurul Izzah Anwar said her family had prepared for all eventualities but was confident of a positive outcome from the royal petition for her father’s sodomy trial.
The Lembah Pantai MP said it was important for her family to never call it quits but ensure all avenues had been exhausted in their quest to clean the name and ultimately free her father.
“Of course, we hope for the best, because we are deeply confident with the facts, with the truthfulness of Anwar Ibrahim,” she said to reporters here when asked if she was optimistic the King would look into Anwar’s case and rule in his favour.
The Federal Court early last month upheld an earlier decision by the Court of Appeal to send Anwar to jail for sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
The former Deputy Prime Minister, who has been stripped of his ‘Datuk Seri’ title, is now locked up in Sungai Buloh Prison, from where he continues to lead the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat.
“We put our trust in the Federal Constitution, specially article 42, which grants the king white powers including to decide on this matter, despite the suggestion from the Pardon Board, one way or the other.
“It is important for us as a family to exhaust all avenues. We have gone through the flows of our judicial system, even the media and the police, for more than 17 years. So, we have to be prepared for any eventualities.
“What is important here is an avenue where we can showcase the abuse of the process, specially with regards to the trial. So for now, I will leave the deliberations to the King and definitely hope for the best. That is the spirit we’re going to carry with us,” said Nurul when met after the Sabah Pakatan Rakyat’s Chinese New Year celebration here, Friday evening.
Nurul based her confidence on the fact that her father’s trial had been closely followed by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), an organization that studies flawed court cases around the world, including the trial of Nelson Mandela.
She said, the the views of ICJ, which has been observing Anwar’s cases since 1999 until today, served as an important part of the petition submitted to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
“That is why I am very confident, because we are not speaking just about supporters and family members, but clear cut evidence gathered by such an important body,” she said.
Nurul maintained that Anwar is a political and not criminal prisoner and called on the people of Malaysia to be brave and speak against the injustice on his father.
She informed ‘Post Card for Annuar’, which represents the support of the people towards him will continue to be distributed across the country, before being sent to Sungai Buloh on a date to be decided later.
She also said that an international statement issued by many imminent leaders would also be released by March 7, and would be based on the inequivalent condemnation of terrorism and wrongly using the name of Islam for violence co-written by Anwar, Swiss scholar Tariq Ramadan and another writer.
The co-written article published in Jakarta Post was important as it shows Anwar to be a very moderate Islam, something that not many or hardly any of the Najib regime leadership can lay claim to, she added.
“We are currently and going to face problems regarding extremism, we are talking about threats, be it the Southern Philippines or Southern Thailand. It is very important for the government of the day to show their guns to relevant threats affecting us, not the political opposition in our virgin democracy.
“Our target should be winning the heart and mind of the would-be terrorist and this requires the support from both sides of the political divide, including the voice of Anwar,” said Nurul, who accused the Barisan Nasional (BN) of going out of their way to try and continue to humiliate her father after the court verdict.
Asked about the significance of the invitation extended to Anwar to attend the opening of the coming parliamentary session, Nurul said under the law, her father very much remains the opposition leader until the royal petition is either accepted or rejected.
Anwar, she added, was recognized by view of his position as the opposition leader, which grants him certain privilege, such as a place in the tea session with the king, along side the AG, chief of police and others, adding that the invitation came after the conviction by the court.
“They can’t change the law. Datuk Zahid Hamidi can’t escape the fact that he is responsible as the Home Minister to give way to Anwar to attend the parliamentary session. So, please enough of pushing it to the AG and so on. The law should be unchanging,” she said.
On the condition of Anwar’s prison cell, Nurul said there had been many statements made on the matter and she had even met with the UK minister Hugo Hugo Swire and US Congressman Paul Ryan, who had informed her that conversations has taken place where they related the issue of Anwar’s medical condition and the fact that he was held in a cell that worsens and deteriorates his physical self.
She said although assurance had been given that Anwar’s cell condition would be improved, no changes were seen yet.
“You must understand that we were also informed by the IGP in 1998 that Anwar Ibrahim was safe and sound when he walloped him half to death. While we are going to keep pushing for better treatment, we also want to see the result of their pledges and until now we have not seen anything,” she said.