KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court set March 28 to hear Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's bid for leave to compel the Pardons Board to reconsider the former opposition leader's petition to be pardoned of his sodomy conviction.
Senior federal counsel Suzana Atan confirmed that judge Datuk Nor Bee Ariffin set the date during case management in chambers this morning.
Suzana was acting for the Board, the Attorney-General, and the government, who are respondents in Anwar's judicial review.
Anwar's counsel Melissa Sasidaran confirmed the outcome.
On Feb 10 last year, the Federal Court upheld 68-year-old Anwar's conviction and five-year-jail term for sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 31, in 2008.
On June 24 the same year, Anwar and his family members - wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and daughters Nurul Izzah and Nurul Nuha - filed a legal challenge against the Board's dismissal of the pardons petition earlier 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 Prison inmate serving five years' jail over the sodomy incident - 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 then-Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, whom he accused of long-standing bias against him (Anwar).
Anwar 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 last year.
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 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 is also seeking an alternative remedy of a court order to compel the Board to advise the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong to pardon him (Anwar).