PUTRAJAYA, Feb 10 — The Federal Court today delivered the much-awaited verdict on opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s final appeal against his conviction and five-year jail sentence for sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
Following are the who’s who in the trial:
FIVE-MEMBER PANEL OF JUDGES
1. Tun Arifin bin Zakaria
Chief Justice of the Federal Court. Appointed as the Chief Justice on Sept 12, 2011. Ariffin went to read law at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. Upon graduation he joined the Judicial and Legal Service of Malaysia in September 1974. In 1979 he pursued the Master of Laws course at the University College, London and the Bar Final Course at the Council of Legal Education.
2. Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif
President, Court of Appeal. Appointed as President of The Court of Appeal on Sept 12, 2011. Md Raus obtained his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Malaya in 1976 and his Master of Laws from the London School of Economics in 1987. His career started in the Judicial and Legal Service on 1 July 1976.
3. Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong
Federal Court Judge. He was admitted as a Barrister-at-Law of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, London in 1976 after completing his secondary school education at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar. On Oct 14, 2009, Abdull Hamid was appointed as a Judge of The Federal Court, Malaysia. His career in the Judicial
and Legal Service began on Oct 18, 1976 when he was appointed as a temporary Legal Officer in the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
4. Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar
Federal Court Judge. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws at the Warwick University and Barrister at Law at the Lincoln’s Inn, London. He began his career in the Judicial and Legal Service at the Kuala Lumpur High Court. In 2006, he was appointed as a Judge in the Court of Appeal, Malaysia.
5. Datuk Ramly Ali
Federal Court Judge. He obtained his LL.B (Hons) at the University of Malaya in 1978. Between 1978 and 1982, he served as a Magistrate in Perak. From 2001 to April 2009, Ramly served as a High Court Judge before being officially appointed as a Judge in the Court of Appeal, Malaysia.
DEFENCE’S TEAM
1. Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram (pic), was the Federal Court Judge from 2009 until Feb 16, 2010. He has the distinction of being the first lawyer in private practice to be appointed straight to the Court of Appeal when it was set up in 1994, having never served as a judicial commissioner or a High Court judge.
2. Gobind Singh Deo, is a prominent Malaysian lawyer and politician and also the Member of Parliament for Puchong, Selangor. He is the second son of the DAP politician and lawyer, the late Karpal Singh. Gobind was admitted to the Malaysian Bar in 1996, a year after returning from Lincoln’s Inn.
3. Ram Karpal Singh Deo, is a Malaysian lawyer and politician. He is a son of the late Karpal Singh and brother of Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo. He was admitted to the Malaysian Bar in 2000. Currently, he heads his late father’s law firm in Pudu Lama, Kuala Lumpur.
4. N. Surendran, 48, served as a lawyer for 20 years since 1994. He is the Member of Parliament for Padang Serai, Kedah from the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).
5. R. Sivarasa is a lawyer and Member of Parliament for Subang, Selangor from the PKR who frequently represented Anwar in civil suit cases. He was the co-founder of Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) and a Human Rights activist.
6. Sangeet Deo Kaur
7. J.Leela
8. Latheefa Koya
9. Lim Choon Kim
10. Eric Paulsen.
11. Michelle Yesudas.
12. Sahid Adli Kamaruddin
13. Zaleha Al-Hayat
14. Jeremy Vinesh Anthony
15. Mohamed Aliff Bolkin
PROSECUTION TEAM
1. Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Muhamad Abdullah is a leading lawyer in Malaysia. He obtained his law degree from the University of Malaya in 1977. Shafee had also pursued further studies at the London School Of Economics and holds a Masters in Law in 1984. In July 2013, he was appointed by the Attorney-General to lead the prosecution team in the appeal against Anwar’s acquittal from a sodomy charge.
2. Datuk Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria, holds a Bachelor of Law (LLB) from the University of Malaya and is Deputy Head of the Prosecution Division (Operations) of the Attorney-General’s Chambers. He started service as a magistrate in 1985 and has over 20 years of experience as a Deputy Public Prosecutor.
— BERNAMA
