Malaysian High Court Judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah will continue to hear former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial when the latter's appeal to have the judge recused was dismissed on Friday.
A three-men bench from the Malaysian Court of Appeal in Putrajaya, Malaysia's federal administration center, unanimously ruled that the appeal court had no jurisdiction to hear Anwar's application.
This was because Anwar could not appeal to the court to seek the disqualification of Mohamad Zabidin as the process of the sodomy trial was still ongoing, explained Justice Low Hop Bing who headed the three-men bench.
On Nov. 23, 2010, Anwar requested Mohamad Zabidin to withdraw from hearing the sodomy trial after he claimed that the judge had intimidated one of his counsels Karpal Singh.
However, Mohamad Zabidin retorted Anwar's accusation, saying that his verbal exchanges with Karpal Singh were not tantamount to threatening the latter.
Anwar first attempted to disqualify Mohamad Zabidin in March 2010 when he claimed that the latter had failed to take action against a local newspaper for disrupting a fair trial.
The application was dismissed.
Anwar, who is currently the country's opposition leader, is on trial for allegedly sodomizing Mohd Saiful Bukhari, his former personal aide in June 2008. Once convicted, Anwar, who is undergoing a sodomy trial for the second time, can be sentenced to 20 years in jail.
The Malaysian High Court will set a date for the trial to proceed next Monday.