The Court of Appeal has set March 4 next year to hear Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s appeal against the High Court’s refusal to refer eight legal questions from a suit filed by former research assistant Yusoff Rawther to the Federal Court.
Yusoff’s lawyer, Rafique Rashid Ali, said the appellate court also fixed Feb 19, 2026, for case management.
“The respondent (Yusoff) has instructed us to write to the president of the Court of Appeal to request an earlier hearing date, given that this case involves public interest litigation,” Rafique said in a statement.
Rafique also said that the appeal ought to be disposed of expeditiously, as it only concerned questions of law, and the records of appeal had already been fully filed.
On July 21, the Court of Appeal allowed Anwar a stay of the former research assistant’s civil suit over an alleged assault.
The stay is pending the outcome of the prime minister’s appeal against the High Court’s refusal to refer to the Federal Court eight legal questions arising from the suit.
A three-member bench chaired by Ruzima Ghazali said a stay should be granted as Anwar had shown special circumstances.
The prime minister wants the apex court to determine whether Articles 5(1), 8(1), 39, 40 and 43 of the Federal Constitution grant him qualified immunity from the suit filed by Yusoff four years ago.
On June 4, High Court judge Roz Mawar Rozain said none of the questions posed in the application had crossed the threshold set out in Section 84 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 to justify a referral to the apex court.
She said the application was misconceived as to the jurisdiction of the courts, and based on speculative doctrines with no constitutional footing.
Dismissing Anwar’s application, she maintained the trial dates previously set for seven days between June 16 and June 25.
Yusoff’s suit relates to events which allegedly took place before Anwar took office on Nov 22, 2022.
Yusoff, who is a grandson of the late Penang consumer advocate SM Mohamed Idris, claimed he was assaulted at Anwar’s home in Segambut in October 2018.
Anwar denies the claim and has filed a countersuit.
