Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for an end to the prosecution of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim under the country’s anti-gay law.

Next week, the country’s top court will hear Anwar’s appeal of his March conviction for violating the colonial sodomy law, which criminalizes same-sex relations.

The prosecution is cross-appealing Anwar’s five-year jail term, which could result in a sentence of up to 20 years.

‘Prosecuting Anwar for something that should never be considered a crime shows how far the government is prepared to go to remove a political opponent,’ said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of HRW.

‘By using this law, the government is also putting the rights and freedoms of Malaysia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community at risk.’

Police arrested Anwar in July 2008 after a former aide complained they had consensual gay sex with former aide.

The High Court acquitted him in 2012, ruling that DNA samples that were central to the prosecution’s case had not been handled or kept properly and therefore possibly contaminated.

In March, the Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal and sentenced Anwar to five years in prison.

This is the fourth time he has been charged under the sodomy law, article 377 of the penal code. Article 377 has been invoked only seven times since 1938, according to research by the Women’s Candidacy Initiative.

Should the Federal Court uphold Anwar’s conviction, he will be stripped of his seat in the federal parliament. Malaysia election law also provides that any person who is imprisoned for as little as one day or fined 2,000 ringgit (US$625) is forbidden from running for office for five years. The 10-year hiatus could effectively end his political career.

‘Malaysian authorities should drop their case against Anwar Ibrahim or risk making a travesty of the country’s criminal justice system,’ said Robertson.

‘This drawn-out political theater has long been exposed as an attempt by the government to take Malaysia’s most senior opposition leader out of political contention.’

This is not the first time HRW has called for an end to Malaysia’s sodomy ban and political prosecutions.