KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuala Lumpur Syariah Court of Appeal has fixed April 27 for a decision on whether to accept lawyer Datuk Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar’s withdrawal from representing Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom and two others cited in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s qazaf (false accusation of sodomy) suit. The lawyer voluntarily recused himself from the case without informing Anwar’s lawyers, and had only submitted a notice on the matter yesterday morning.

Anwar is seeking to remove Zainul Rijal, who is also representing the Federal Territories Islamic Affairs Department and its chief prosecutor, from the case on the grounds that he was allegedly unprofessional, dishonest and had ill intentions.

Anwar also said in his Aug 18, 2011 application to recuse the lawyer that there was a conflict of interest as the latter was a member of the Federal Territories Islamic Affairs Council, which oversees the appointment of syariah judges.

Yesterday, Syariah Court of Appeal judge Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim, who is leading the three-member panel, ordered both the applicant, Anwar, and the respondent, Zainul Rijal, to appear in court on April 27.

“Datuk Seri, will you be free (this April 27)?” Muhammad asked Anwar in jest, prompting laughter from the jailed opposition leader and others present in court.

Anwar, who is now serving a five-year prison sentence, arrived in court at 10.15am under heavy escort by armed officers from the Prisons Department. Although the de facto PKR chief appeared gaunt in his blue shirt, he flashed a smile to the waiting reporters and spoke to his granddaughter, Raja Safiyah Raja Ahmad Shahrir, before the court proceeding began.

Muhammad ordered the armed Prisons Department personnel to leave the courtroom after Anwar’s lawyer, Mohd Rafie Mohd Shafie, said the weapons they brought in were in violation of courtroom ethics. The other two judges on the panel are Datuk Hussin Harun and Datuk Aidi Mokhtar. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 25, 2015.