By Debra ChongKUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 — The Federal Court today postponed hearing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s suit against Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the federal government for his 1998 sacking to Thursday.
This was after one of the three judges on the Bench agreed to withdraw from hearing the case. Judge Datuk Hashim Yusoff volunteered to recuse himself after Anwar’s lawyer, Karpal Singh, said they had reservations there may be bias.
Hashim had in 2003 sat on the Court of Appeal panel in Anwar’s first sodomy case. The former deputy prime minister, who is suing for damages over his sudden sacking from his government posts a decade ago, was present in court today.
Anwar (picture) later remarked that Hashim’s recusal was “very unusual.” He told reporters that the judge had offered to step down three times, which he noted was very suggestive of admitting bias.
Hashim’s replacement will only be announced on Thursday. The other two judges in the case are Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff and Datuk Abdull Hamid Embong.
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