Anwar's sodomy conviction upheld

Putrajaya

A MALAYSIAN court on Tuesday upheld a sodomy conviction for Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of the country's opposition, the culmination of an extended legal battle entwined with a high-stakes struggle for political supremacy.

A lower court had sentenced Anwar to five years in prison on the charge last year, and the Federal Court in the country's administrative capital of Putrajaya was hearing arguments on prosecutors' request for a longer sentence.

Sodomy is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and the rejection of his final appeal is likely to remove him as the linchpin of a fractious but ascendant opposition less than two years after the governm…