Malaysian court frees Anwar's lawyer

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (Reuters) -- Malaysia's highest court has quashed a contempt of court conviction and prison sentence against a lawyer for jailed former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim.

The Federal Court on Wednesday acquitted Anwar's lawyer Zainur Zakaria, who was sentenced to three months jail by the High Court in November 1998.

While Zainur and Malaysia's Bar Council, which represents the country's near 10,000 lawyers, celebrated the ruling, another counsel handed a petition to the Home Ministry asking again for Anwar to be allowed to go for spinal surgery in Germany.

"This is the last letter we are sending to the government before we take this matter to court," lawyer S.N. Nair, who joined Anwar's children to hand the petition to an aide of Home Minister Abdullah Badawi, told Reuters.

The government has refused to let Anwar, suffering a slipped disc, seek treatment abroad despite repeated appeals by his family and supporters.

Nair said last week he hoped to bring the prisons chief to court soon to challenge the authorities' stand.

Anwar, once in line to succeed Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, is serving a 15-year jail sentence for sodomy and corruption. He says he was framed, but the government denies this.

During Anwar's corruption trial, Zainur had filed an affidavit saying two prosecutors had offered to reduce charges against a businessman friend of Anwar if the man agreed to frame Anwar with sex crimes.

High Court Judge Augustine Paul had ruled that Zainur's affidavit amounted to a serious contempt and ordered the lawyer to apologise or go to jail. Zainur refused to apologise.

The Court of Appeal in September last year upheld Zainur's conviction and sentence, forcing him to appeal to the higher Federal Court.

The country's new Chief Justice, Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, vowed to restore battered public confidence in the judiciary when he took office in December.

On Wednesday, Federal Court judges reviewing the Court of Appeal decision, said Zainur was only acting in Anwar's interest.

They also criticised High Court Judge Paul for acting against Zainur without testimony from the two prosecutors.

"I'm glad justice has been served," Zainur said.

Bar Council chairman Mah Weng Kwai praised the ruling, saying reinforced the principle for a lawyer to represent his client "without regard to any unpleasant consequences to himself."

"It is another welcome development in the long and hard road to restore confidence in the judiciary," said veteran opposition figure Lim Kit Siang.

Anwar supporters scored another notable legal victory last month when a judge ordered two activists held under the Internal Security Act (ISA) to be freed.

The police then released two others but they are still holding six of the most prominent members of Anwar's "Reformasi" movement under the law which allows detention without trial for up to two years.

Reuters contributed to this report.