KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 — Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail vowed today never to give up fighting for the release of her husband Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is now entering his 29^th day behind bars for sodomy. 

Anwar is due to lead debates from the opposition bench in Parliament tomorrow but had his bid to do so rejected last week by the Prisons Department, despite repeated objections from his family members and colleagues in Pakatan Rakyat.

A massive rally was also held Saturday to protest his incarceration for what he claims was a politically motivated charge for sodomy but as it stands, the 67-year-old politician looks set to be confined to his Sungai Buloh cell until his plea for royal pardon is decided on.

“Yes I am sad, I am a woman, I am a wife, I have emotions,” his wife Dr Wan Azizah said in a Facebook posting this morning.

“But I’ll never surrender, I hope the people can stand with me.

“The fear that is shown by the government will not stop me from moving forward. I’ll never surrender and we will never surrender,” the Kajang assemblyman added.

In a brief text message to Malay Mail Online yesterday, PKR’s Parliament Whip Datuk Johari Abdul said despite the rejection from the Prisons Department, it would only be known on tomorrow if Anwar would get the chance to attend this month’s parliamentary session.

The Sungai Petani MP did not elaborate further, but in a statement earlier last night, he said he will seek a meeting with the Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia for alternative methods to secure Anwar’s participation in Parliament in the immediate future and in the long-run.

On February 10, the Federal Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s 2014 ruling that reversed Anwar’s acquittal of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, and sentenced him to five years’ jail.

On February 24, Anwar’s family sent a request for royal pardon to delay the disqualification of his Permatang Pauh seat, they also applied to the prison to temporarily release the incumbent  to attend tomorrow’s Dewan Rakyat sitting.

The Speaker of the lower house has accepted the stay request.

Last week, however, the Prisons Department rejected PKR and Anwar’s family’s formal application for their de facto chief to leave jail for the sitting.

Article 48 of the Federal Constitution states that an elected representatives is disqualified from office if convicted and sentenced to a jail term of not less than a year or fined not less than RM2,000.

However, Article 48 (4)© of the Federal Constitution states that the disqualification will take effect only after the petition for a pardon is disposed, for those who have applied for it.

Since he was sent to prison on February 10, Anwar was only allowed out briefly on February 17 to testify in his defamation suit against Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.