Malaysia's highest court began an appeals hearing yesterday that could erase newly freed former deputy leader Anwar Ibrahim's criminal record and allow him back into politics.
Meanwhile, Anwar, 57, was walking in his hospital room three hours after successful back surgery Monday in Munich, Germany, to repair damage that he maintains was caused by a police beating in custody in 1998, aides said in a statement.
The three-judge panel of the Federal Court unanimously dismissed prosecution objections to allowing a rare appeal of the court's earlier ruling that had upheld Anwar's conviction for corruption.
Anwar's attorneys immediately began arguing against the court's previous refusal to quash the conviction, issued when Anwar's foe, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, was still in office.
But the hearings were adjourned until today after the lawyers disputed among themselves whether to attack the original conviction as a political conspiracy, or to stick to technical legal issues.
Anwar, contacted in Germany, gave the go-ahead to use the conspiracy theory, attorney Sankara Nair told reporters, but the legal team will need to inform the court of its final plans today.
If the conviction is eventually overturned, Anwar would be free of a five-year ban on former felons running for office or leading parties.
The courtroom maneuvering came less than a week after a separate panel overturned a sodomy conviction and freed Anwar from six years in prison. Anwar called both convictions a conspiracy to stop him challenging Mahathir for power in 1998. Anwar remains a potent force in this Southeast Asian country. His ability to draw crowds is undiminished, and several thousand supporters who saw him off to Germany last weekend brought Kuala Lumpur International Airport to a standstill.
The popular Anwar has vowed to push for democratic reforms and would be a prize for any party he enters -- the opposition group headed by his wife, Azizah Ismail, or the ruling United Malays National Organization, where he was once deputy leader.
In Germany, Anwar's 1 3/4-hour operation at the private Alpha Klinik for a slipped disc and spinal stenosis was successful and there were no complications, said Thomas Hoogland, head of the surgical team. Hoogland said that Anwar's ailment was caused in part because he had few opportunities to walk around while in prison. After his recovery, "I expect him to walk without pain," Hoogland said.
"I expect that he can do everything he is politically asked for," Hoogland said. "He will, by and large, be fit again."
Anwar, who has increasingly been confined to a wheelchair in recent years, is expected to need several weeks of rehabilitation.
Anwar was Malaysia's prime-minister-in-waiting when Mahathir, once his mentor, sacked him. Anwar led massive street protests calling for Mahathir's ouster and for democratic reforms. He was arrested on national security grounds, tried for sodomy and corruption and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
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