KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — Former opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wants the courts to weigh in on his bid to challenge the Pardons Board's refusal to grant him a royal pardon for his Sodomy II conviction.

Anwar is now asking the High Court to consider referring his question of law to the Federal Court and had passed the question to government lawyers yesterday, lawyer Latheefa Koya said today.

"As to whether Pardons Board's decision is justiciable or not and if that is the case, whether it breaches his right under Article 8 (of the Federal Constitution)," she said when explaining the question of law that Anwar had sent in while in prison.

Latheefa, who was speaking to reporters after parties met in chambers before High Court judge Datuk Nor Bee Ariffin, said today's hearing has been postponed.

She said this was because Anwar — who is representing himself — had only received certain court documents from the Attorney-General's Chambers in court today.

"The problem is because Anwar Ibrahim is having difficulty with access to documents," she said.

She added that Anwar had also previously written to the home minister to be granted access to resources for legal research but has yet to receive a response.

Latheefa said lawyers could not represent Anwar as they did not have proper access to him in prison, with only weekly visits lasting one hour permitted.

"We have 16 over cases so we are insisting you give us proper access, then we can represent him properly. Otherwise he is forced to represent himself," she said.

N. Surendran, who along with Latheefa was representing Anwar's three family members, said their clients' question of law is whether or not the Pardons Board's decision-making process can be challenged in court.

As he left the courtroom, Anwar — who is not trained as a lawyer — said he has to put in "extra work" to represent himself.

Anwar, who turns 69 this year, said he had "enough training" from the late Raja Abdul Aziz Raja Addruse and the late Karpal Singh, two lawyers who had represented him in his sodomy cases.

April 26 has now been fixed for the hearing of both Anwar's bid for judicial review and the applications to refer the questions of law to the Federal Court.

On June 25 last year, Anwar filed for a challenge against the Pardons Board’s March 16 rejection of his family’s request for a royal pardon of the Federal Court’s February 10 sodomy conviction.

In this legal challenge, Anwar, his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and two daughters Nurul Izzah and Nurul Nuha, have named the government of Malaysia, the Attorney-General and the Pardons Board for the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya as respondents.