Sodomy II: No extension on appeal petition deadline following Karpal's death, formal application required

A formal application is needed to extend the Thursday deadline for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to file his petition of appeal at the Federal Court over his sodomy case, following the death of lead counsel Karpal Singh.

Co-counsel Zaleha al-Hayat said she had sent a letter to the Federal Court registry on Tuesday afternoon asking for two weeks' extension to file the petition due to Karpal's death in a road accident last Thursday, but a court registrar asked her to file a formal application instead."It is risky to file a notice of motion (formal application) now asking for an extension of time as the deadline to file the petition of appeal is today (Thursday)," she said.

She said that they have to explain the grounds for the request of the extension, which would include Karpal's death and the fact that his co-counsel and son, Ramkarpal Singh Deo, was still mourning for him.

"If it (application) is fixed to be heard next week, time will be lapse for the filing of the petition. If the court dismisses our application, we will have nothing," she said.

Zaleha said that Ramkarpal was speeding up the process to file the petition.
"The lead counsel will be Sulaiman Abdullah," Zaleha confirmed.

Anwar is now appealing against his conviction for sodomy and five-year jail term imposed by the Court of Appeal on March 7.

Anwar was charged with sodomising Saiful, then 23, at a Desa Damansara condominium unit in Bukit Damansara between 3.10 pm and 4.30 pm on June 26, 2008.