FILE PHOTO - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim speaks to Reuters at his office in Petaling Jaya outside Kuala Lumpur August 4, 2008. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad/File Photo

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister-designate Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said on Friday her husband Anwar Ibrahim could be released from custody within days, and be granted a full royal pardon hopefully within a week.

“The Agong (king) wants the pardon to happen as soon as possible,” Wan Azizah told reporters outside a hospital where she had gone to visit Anwar. “If the director of prisons is satisfied ... then he may be released in 2-3 days. Freedom is easier (than getting a pardon).”

Anwar has served about three years of a five-year jail term for sodomy, which is a crime in Malaysia. Mahathir Mohamad, who was sworn in as prime minister on Thursday, has said he will step down and allow Anwar to take his post after he is pardoned and able to return to politics.