KUALA LUMPUR: High Court judge Datuk Asmabi Mohamad has recused herself from hearing a legal challenge to compel the Pardons Board to reconsider former opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's petition to be pardoned of a sodomy conviction.
Anwar's counsel Latheefa Koya said Asmabi allowed her client's recusal application on grounds of apparent danger of bias.
"She (Asmabi) was a senior federal counsel in a case where Anwar was suing the prime minister and the government over his (Anwar) sacking in 1998," Latheefa said.
She was referring to Asmabi acting for the prime minister and the government in a 2007 Court of Appeal matter where Anwar challenged his 1998 removal from the position of deputy prime minister and finance minister.
Latheefa added that Asmabi also recused herself from hearing a separate matter where Anwar is challenging the Election Commission's refusal to allow him to vote in the recent Permatang Pauh by-election.
Senior federal counsel Suzana Atan appeared for the Pardons Board, the Attorney-General, and the government, who are respondents in Anwar's judicial review bid to be pardoned of his sodomy conviction.
On Feb 10, the Federal Court upheld 67-year-old Anwar's conviction and five-year-jail term for sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 30, in 2008.
On June 24, Anwar and his family members - wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and daughters Nurul Izzah and Nurul Nuha - filed the legal challenge against the Pardons Board's dismissal of the pardons petition on March 16.
Dr Wan Azizah is Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president while Nurul Izzah is the party's vice-president.
Anwar - currently a Sungai Buloh Prisons inmate serving five years' jail - claimed the Board's decision was tainted by the presence of the Attorney-General in its meeting.
The former Permatang Pauh Member of Parliament was referring to Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, whom he accused of long-standing bias against him (Anwar).
He claimed the Board's decision was not properly communicated to him and his family as it was done through a court affidavit produced by the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) on March 27.
Anwar also alleged that the Board's decision violated his constitutional rights, adding that alternatively it (decision) contravened natural justice.
Aside from quashing the Board's decision, Anwar also seeks a court order to compel it to re-convene a meeting to reconsider his petition and advise the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong appropriately.
Anwar also seeks an alternative remedy of a court order to compel the Board to advise the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong to pardon him (Anwar).