High Court judge Justice Nik Hasmat Nik Mohamad ruled that the Prisons Department director-general had the discretion, under prison laws, to decide whether to allow prisoners to have physical contact with their families or not.
“The prison laws, regulations do not state the Prisons Department and officials have a duty to provide reasons why they reject the request for physical touch,” she said.
Nik Hasmat said the judicial review to set aside the Prisons Department’s refusal to allow physical contact was misconceived and mischievous.
“I find there is no breach of his constitutional rights for not being able to touch his family,” she said, adding that as a prisoner, Anwar had to be subject to orders by the prison authorities.
Nik Hasmat ordered Anwar to pay RM1,000 in costs.
In an immediate response, Anwar said he had anticipated that his challenge would be dismissed.
His lawyer N Surendran said they would file an appeal as soon as possible.
“We think this is a wrong decision, and we will take it to the appeal,” he said.
Anwar and his family filed a judicial review on May 18 last year to challenge the decision of the Prisons Department and the government to not allow him physical contact with his family.
He, his wife Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, his four daughters and four grandchildren seek to quash the order made by the director of Sungai Buloh prison on March 14, 2016, rejecting his application to have human contact with his family members.
They also want an order to compel the prisons’ director to give Anwar human contact with his family members for the remaining period of his imprisonment.
The court had earlier heard that Anwar had to speak through an intercom, as he was separated by a glass partition from his family. Anwar had told the court his family had only been allowed physical contact seven times last year and that each time it was only for the last five minutes.
The former deputy prime minister is serving a five-year jail sentence for sodomy.