Malaysia's highest court has rejected an appeal by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim against a sodomy conviction, sending the politician who poses the greatest threat to the long-ruling coalition back to prison for five years.
The UN Human Rights office and Australia said they were disappointed by the ruling. Human Rights Watch condemned it as persecution and Amnesty International said it would have a chilling effect on freedom of expression.
Anwar, the ruling party's rising star in the mid-1990s before he fell out with then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, denied the charge that led to his second conviction for sodomy as a fabrication aimed at ending his political career.
"I will walk again for the third time into prison but rest assured that I will walk in with my head held high," a defiant Anwar said in a statement he read out in court.
"I maintain my innocence."
Prime Minister Najib Razak's government has rejected any suggestion of interference in the case.
"Malaysia has an independent judiciary, and there have been many rulings against senior government figures," the government said in a statement after the ruling.
Anwar criticised the court saying that in rejecting his appeal it was "bowing to the dictates of the political masters".
"You chose to remain on the dark side and drown your morals and your scruples in a sea of falsehood and subterfuge," he told the judges who walked out of the court as he spoke.
"I will not surrender," he said.
Anwar later comforted his wife and children and had a meal with them before being taken to the Sungai Buloh prison, about 20 miles from Kuala Lumpur.
A court found the 67-year old former deputy prime minister guilty in March last year of sodomising a former political aide.
The conviction disqualifies him from political office and contesting the next election that must be held by 2018.
Nurul Izzah, Anwar's daughter who is also a political leader in his Parti Keadilan Rakyat, was also defiant.
"This is not the end," said told reporters outside the court.
Anwar is head of a three-party opposition alliance that made stunning gains in a 2013 general election which for the first time raised the possibility of a genuine challenge for the coalition that has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957.
The decision against him raises the prospect of a fresh bout of political agitation which could make investors even more cautious about putting money into an economy so heavily dependent on oil and gas revenues at a time when global prices are so low.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article