KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is a free man after the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V granted him a full pardon yesterday. The PKR de facto leader was serving a five-year jail sentence from February 2015 following his conviction for sodomy.
He was originally scheduled for release on June 8. Sultan Muhammad V granted Anwar, his wife and Parti Keadilan Rakyat president, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as well as party deputy president, Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali an audience at Istana Negara yesterday noon.
Anwar was earlier discharged from the Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital, where he was warded to recover from a recent surgery, and went straight to Istana Negara for the special audience with the King. The release of Anwar yesterday is all the more meaningful as it comes on the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
His release from prison was one of the election promises of Pakatan Harapan, of which PKR is a component party, which became a reality just a week after the general election on May 9. Crowds of people, mainly Anwar supporters well as local and foreign journalists, had gathered outside Istana Negara to follow the developments on the release of the one-time deputy prime minister and finance minister. – Bernama
