(Oct 26): Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today withdrew his appeal against the Prisons Department's Commissioner-general for turning down his request to be allowed to attend the Dewan Rakyat sitting last March.

His lawyer, Latheefa Koya told a three-man Court of Appeal bench chaired by Datuk Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid that the application was now academic.

The court then struck out the appeal with no costs.

Federal Counsel M. Kogilambigai appeared for Commissioner-general Datuk Seri Zulkifli Omar.

Outside the court, Latheefa said the appeal was withdrawn as the event had been overtaken by time.

"The Dewan Rakyat sitting in March is over," she told reporters.

High Court judge Datuk Asmabi Mohamed dismissed Anwar's judicial review on April 1 on the grounds that the Pardons Board had on March 16 rejected his family's plea for clemency.

Anwar, in his application had said the department had no authority to stop him from attending Dewan Rakyat until the application for pardon was disposed of.

Anwar has filed a separate suit against the board, claiming it's decision was invalid on the grounds that former attorney-general Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail was an interested party.

On February 24, Anwar's wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and their two children, Nurul Izzah and Nurul Nuha, submitted the petition for a royal pardon to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong over the five-year jail sentence imposed on Anwar after he was found guilty of having sodomised his former personal aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

The Federal Court on February 10 upheld the conviction and sentence. – The Malaysian Insider