KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan expressed disappointment today that certain leaders he had once looked up to were now campaigning for the freedom of his alleged sexual attacker, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Mohd Saiful said the Federal Court’s decision today to reject the PKR de facto leader’s bid to review the sodomy conviction and five-year jail sentence had vindicated him.
“What saddens me is that there are certain parties, including a few leaders whom I had long respected, who joined in the campaign to free him,” Mohd Saiful said on his blog.
“It’s as if they don’t care about my feelings and my future as a complainant/ victim who is asking for justice in this case. It’s clear that to them, power and political survival are more important than justice for a small human being,” he added.
Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who formed Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) to contest against the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN), was spotted last month at Pakatan Harapan’s inaugural convention wearing a “Free Anwar” badge.
The apex court ruled this morning that it found no merit in Anwar’s application for a review of the verdict by another panel last year, which had upheld the Court of Appeal’s five-year imprisonment sentence when it reversed a lower court’s acquittal.
Today’s decision means the PKR de facto leader has exhausted all legal avenues to reverse the conviction that he maintains is part of a political conspiracy against him.
