(30 Oct 2014) Malaysia's top court is hearing this week the final appeal filed by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim against a sodomy conviction widely regarded as a means to neutralise the threat he poses to the country's ruling coalition.
Anwar was sentenced to five years in prison in March on charges of sodomising a male aide in 2008 after the appeals court overturned an earlier acquittal.
Critics and independent human rights activists say the case against Anwar is the latest salvo in a long-running campaign by Malaysia's coalition government to silence its most potent threat.
Sodomy, even consensual, is a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia and is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Anwar would also be banned from running for office for five years from the day he is released from jail.
The government says there is no link between the cases against him and his status as opposition leader.
But few people believe that to be true, and many suspect the ruling coalition is using the courts to try and silence the main threat to their long but slowly weakening grip on power.
According to Professor James Chin, a Political Analyst from Monash University, Malaysia could suffer an international backlash if Anwar is sent to jail.
He told the AP that "most people around the world regard this as a political show trial."
Amnesty International says it will consider Anwar "a prisoner of conscience" if he is jailed.

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