KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysia`s highest court crushed the immediate political ambitions of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim when it refused to hear a new appeal against his conviction for corruption.
Anwar remained defiant, telling AFP in a telephone interview from the Munich clinic where he is recuperating from back surgery, that the decision "will not impede my political activity.
"I will give political speeches. I have made it clear I will participate in politics," he said Wednesday.
Anwar, 57, has already served his six-year sentence for corruption, which he says was part of a political conspiracy against him.
But Wednesday`s court decision means he will be barred from holding political office until 2008 under regulations governing convicted criminals.
The charismatic and popular politician, who was once widely expected to become prime minister, was freed from prison earlier this month when the Federal Court overturned his separate conviction and nine-year sentence for sodomy.
But the same court said Wednesday it was not prepared to review its 2002 decision to reject his appeal on the corruption charge, which accused him of abusing his power to cover up allegations of sexual misconduct.
Judge Alauddin Mohamad Sheriff said the three judges were unanimous in finding that there was no merit in Anwar`s application for a new appeal.
"By introducing new evidence it is an attempt to reopen the issue which has been conclusively settled. It is clear abuse of the court process. If this is allowed it will create chaos in our legal system," he said.
In a written statement from Munich Anwar appeared to suggest that he believed the government had influenced the court`s decision.
"I understand with the current political leadership and local media engineering political discord and disharmony, the judiciary is not immune to interference by the executive," he said.
Anwar`s political future has been the subject of intense debate since his release from prison. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced Tuesday that the supreme council of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) had barred him from rejoining the party.
The decision ended speculation that Anwar would try to resume his political career within the party of which he was deputy president before being jailed in 1998.
Anwar`s only option now is with the opposition, which was routed in March elections by the UMNO-led National Front coalition. He will be able to stand in the next elections, due by March 2009, unless they are called early.
His lawyer Karpal Singh told reporters the legal process was finally over and Anwar`s only chance of an immediate return to public life was to ask the king for a pardon -- a move which Anwar told AFP he would consider.
As deputy prime minister Anwar had been expected to take over the leadership of the country before being sacked by the then-premier Mahathir Mohamad on September 2, 1998, when the two men fell out over economic policy during the Asian financial crisis.
Thousands of Anwar`s supporters took to the streets in protest. Within days he was arrested and later jailed on charges which he says were trumped up to prevent him challenging Mahathir for the premiership.
His wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail set up the National Justice Party (Keadilan), which won five parliamentary seats in the 1999 elections but lost all but her own seat in this year`s polls.
Keadilan vice president Tian Chua told reporters at court that despite the decision Anwar could still provide leadership for the party.
"Anwar is recognised by the people as a person fighting for reform, democracy and justice. As a free person he can bring together the opposition and civil society to push for reforms."
Analysts say, however, that if UMNO, which has been in power since independence from Britain in 1957, maintains its ban on Anwar`s membership his dreams of one day becoming prime minister are finished.