KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Tuesday won a reprieve in a civil suit accusing him of sexual misconduct, after a court approved his bid to temporarily suspend the trial due to start next week.
The suit was filed in 2021 by his former research assistant, Muhammed Yusoff Rawther. Yusoff, 32, alleged that Anwar sexually harassed him in 2018 — before Anwar became premier, in November 2022. Anwar, 77, denies any wrongdoing and accuses Yusoff of fabricating the charge to ruin his political career.
The case gained attention after Anwar sought immunity from prosecution, sparking criticism from the opposition and others. The High Court dismissed his application last week, saying everyone is equal before the law. Anwar has turned to the nation’s top court, which will hear his case on July 21.
The Court of Appeal on Tuesday approved Anwar’s bid for a temporary stay to the trial that was due to start June 16, pending next month's hearing in the Federal Court.
Anwar wants the Federal Court to rule on several legal questions including whether a sitting prime minister has immunity from lawsuits stemming from alleged private events before his appointment. His lawyers claimed the legal action could impair his ability to govern and risk destabilizing the government.
The case could undermine Anwar, who heads a unity government comprised of rival factions. He has denied seeking personal immunity or trying to escape legal scrutiny.
“It concerns the integrity of our constitutional system and the need to ensure that high public office is protected from litigation that may be strategically timed, politically motivated or institutionally disruptive,” he wrote on Facebook last week.
Anwar, a former reformist opposition leader, was previously jailed twice for sodomy. He has said the charges against him were manufactured by the government to thwart his opposition party. Anwar was pardoned by the king in 2018, just months before the alleged sexual assault on Yusoff.
Yusoff is currently in detention and on trial after police found drugs and fake pistols in his car last September. He has said he was framed by those in power. The court will decide this Thursday whether he needs to enter his defense, or acquit him.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim delivers his speech during the 22nd Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — An international body tasked with governing the Gaza Strip under the next phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire is expected to be announced by the end of the year, an Arab official and a Western diplomat said Friday.
According to the ceasefire agreement, the authority — known as the Board of Peace and chaired by U.S. President Donald Trump — is to oversee Gaza's reconstruction under a 2-year, renewable U.N. mandate.
It will include about a dozen other Middle Eastern and Western leaders, the Arab official and the Western diplomat told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.
Also to be announced is a committee of Palestinian technocrats who will run the day-to-day administration of post-war Gaza, they two said. The Western diplomat, who spoke to the AP over the phone from Cairo, said the announcement about this will likely happen when Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet later this month.
The ceasefire deal also calls for an armed International Stabilization Force to keep security and ensure the disarming of the militant Hamas group, a key demand of Israel.
The announcement would be a significant step forward in implementing Trump's 20-point plan for the territory devastated by Israel's 2-year campaign against Hamas.
The shaky ceasefire, which came into effect on Oct. 10, has been tested by outbursts of violence and accusations by both sides of violations of the truce. The first phase of the ceasefire has neared completion, though Hamas is still to hand over the remains of a last Israel hostage called for under the deal.
The Arab official said that talks are still ongoing over which countries will take part in the international force for Gaza but that he expects deployment will begin in the first quarter of 2026.
A U.S. official gave a similar timeline, saying that “boots on the ground” could be a reality in early 2026. The official spoke to the AP on the same condition of anonymity. Axios first reported the anticipated announcement on Thursday.
The Arab official said that “extensive talks” will start immediately with Hamas and Israel on the details of the second phase, which he expects to be tough.
Those talks are expected the tackle the issue of disarming Hamas, a step the militant group has not yet agreed to. The plan also calls for Israeli forces to withdraw from the roughly half of the Gaza Strip that they still control as the international force deploys.
Funding for a rebuilding plan for the Gaza Strip still has not been determined. Some Palestinians have expressed concern over the apparent lack of a Palestinian voice in the body and the lack of a firm promise in the plan that they will eventually gain statehood.
Netanyahu's government rejects the creation of a Palestinian state, and the U.S.-brokered deal includes only a vague provision that a pathway toward statehood may be possible if certain conditions are met.
Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Doha, Qatar, contributed to this report.
Palestinians watch youths riding their motorcycles and ATV on sand dunes in the Al-Zahra area, in the central Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians watch youths riding their motorcycles on sand dunes in the Al-Zahra area, in the central Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli military strike, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
