KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 — PKR chief whip Datuk Johari Abdul confirmed he will meet Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia today to explore options for jailed Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to attend the Parliament sitting this week.

“Yes,” Johari told Malay Mail Online when asked whether he would be meeting Pandikar after the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s royal address.

Yesterday, Johari confirmed that Pandikar had formally informed him that Anwar’s release from the Sungai Buloh Prison for the current parliamentary session was already rejected by the Home Ministry last week.

“This means the Dewan Rakyat Speaker DOES not permit the Permatang Pauh MP and Opposition Leader of the Malaysian Parliament YB Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to attend the Parliament session starting from March 9, 2015,” the Sungai Petani MP had said in a statement.

“All this time we had hoped Tan Sri Speaker would open the space as wide as possible to a member of Parliament to receive the rights and protection contained in the Federal Constitution,” he added.

Anwar, now imprisoned for over three weeks, was let out briefly on February 17 to testify in his defamation suit against Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.

The Federal Constitution’s Article 48 (1)(e) provides for the disqualification of a lawmaker convicted and jailed for a minimum one year or fined a minimum RM2,000 and who has not received a free pardon.

For those who have filed for a pardon, Article 48 (4)(c) states that the disqualification will take effect after the petition for pardon is disposed of.

On February 24, Anwar’s family sent a request for royal pardon to delay the disqualification of his Permatang Pauh seat while also applying to the Prisons Department to temporarily release the opposition leader to attend the current Parliamentary session.

However, they received a letter on March 4 from the Prisons Department rejecting their application.

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 the Permatang Pauh lawmaker to five years’ jail.