KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — Putrajaya today hailed the “independence” of the Malaysian judiciary that is sending Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim back to prison on a sodomy charge that the opposition leader has maintained was politically motivated.

The Barisan Nasional government pointed out that there have been “many” rulings against senior government figures and noted that the complaint against Anwar was brought by a private individual, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) de facto leader’s then-aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, and not by the government.

“The judges will have reached their verdict only after considering all the evidence in a balanced and objective manner,” Putrajaya said in a statement.

“Malaysia has an independent judiciary, and there have been many rulings against senior government figures,” the government added.

Putrajaya said Saiful had the right to have his case heard in court as a “serious sexual assault” victim.

“In this case, exhaustive and comprehensive due process has been followed over many years. That process is now complete, and we call on all parties involved to respect the legal process and the judgment,” the government said.

The ruling by the Federal Court today upholding an earlier Court of Appeal ruling that had reversed Anwar’s acquittal of sodomising Saiful effectively ends the opposition leader’s legal options to challenge the conviction.

He now stands to lose his Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat as the law bars anyone fined over RM2,000 or imprisoned more than one year from serving as a lawmaker.

The decision also leaves the PR federal opposition pact without a leader.

When reading out the summary of the case, Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria said the offence under Section 377B of the Penal Code was concerned with acts of carnal intercourse against the order of nature and that consent was not a necessary ingredient to the commission.

Arifin, who represented a five-man bench, said the Federal Court concurred with the subordinate courts that Saiful was a credible witness.

He also said that the apex court accepted the DNA evidence tendered by the prosecution, explaining that degradation did not prevent the samples from being usable and that there was no break in the chain of custody as claimed by Anwar’s lawyers.

The Chief Justice further said there was no merit to Anwar’s claim of a political conspiracy in the charge and that such a defence was not considered by the three courts hearing the case.