The Malaysian court of appeal ruled Wednesday that jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim [BBC profile] can continue challenging the rejection of his petition for a royal pardon. Anwar, the former deputy prime minister, is serving a five-year jail sentence for sodomy. His next step [FMT report] is to petition the Federal Court to determine if he has the constitutional right to legally challenge the Pardons Board’s decision to reject his petition. Anwar’s request for a pardon was rejected in 2015. In December Anwar utilized his last legal option for acquittal of his conviction when the apex court ruled his application for review was without merit. If his conviction is not overturned, Anwar is disqualified from future political positions.

Anwar was convicted of sodomy in 2014 less than a year after he led a three-party opposition alliance [JURIST report] to massive electoral gains in 2013. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined [JURIST report] that Anwar’s imprisonment was political and urged his immediate release. Anwar has continually denied [JURIST report] the sodomy charge. The Kuala Lumpur High Court acquitted Anwar in January 2012, but an appeals court overturned the acquittal [JURIST reports] and sentenced Anwar to five years in prison. The opposition leader was arrested in July 2008 after he filed a lawsuit against his accuser [JURIST reports] a month earlier. In December 2010 Anwar filed a complaint [JURIST report] in a Malaysian court over a WikiLeaks cable published by Australian newspapers stating he had engaged in sodomy. Anwar was Malaysia’s deputy prime minister under former Mahathir Mohamad until he was fired in 1998 following earlier sodomy charges of which he was initially convicted but later acquitted. He reentered Malaysian politics following the expiration of a 10-year ban [JURIST report] against him for unrelated corruption charges.