Anwar acquitted by Malaysian court Malaysia's High Court has found Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition leader, not guilty of charges of sodomy in a long-running legal battle that Mr Anwar and his supporters had argued was a government effort to sideline him ahead of national elections. The acquittal allows Mr Anwar to focus on unifying the sometimes fractious opposition, but it could also boost the prime minister's efforts to portray himself as a reformer. I have been vindicated. To be honest, I am a little surprised," Reuters reported Mr Anwar as saying after the verdict. Thank God justice has prevailed. If he had been found guilty of the charges that he assaulted a male aide in 2008, Mr Anwar, 64, could have faced 20 years in prison and been unable to run in elections expected later this year or next. He was jailed on similar charges in 1998, but freed in 2004 when a court overturned that conviction. Thousands of Mr Anwar's supporters, many of them young university students, had gathered outside the courthouse in the rainy hours before dawn to await the verdict. Mr Anwar, a father of six who began his career as a student protester in the 1970s, had promoted a more open and multi-ethnic vision for Malaysia, a country made up of Malay, Indian and Chinese communities. For decades, it has been dominated by the ruling party, United Malays National Organisation. The opposition coalition Mr Anwar leads, Pakatan Rakya or People's Alliance, brings together liberal, social democrat and Islamist parties. In the March 2008 parliamentary elections, Pakatan handed the ruling coalition its worst election result in 50 years, which some analysts point to as a catalyst for the sodomy charges brought against Mr Anwar in June that year. The government has repeatedly denied accusations that the charges were politically motivated. "Malaysia has an independent judiciary, and this verdict proves that the government does not hold sway over judges" decisions," said Rais Yatim, Malaysia's minister of information, communications and culture, in a statement. Since the opposition's strong performance, prime minster Najib Razak has challenged conservatives in his own party and promoted an agenda of political reform and economic liberalisation that could improve the government's standing among minority Chinese and Indian communities. "Najib is smart, and he's a pragmatic politician," said Shaun Levine, a south-east Asia analyst for Eurasia Group. He understands the need for [political] reform. Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia specialist at Singapore Management University said that Monday's court decision could boost Mr Najib's reformist image. "The case reflects positively on [the prime minister] because it shows he ... let the judicial process move forward," she said. Whether Mr Anwar can lead the opposition coalition, the People's Alliance, to victory in national elections remains "a toss-up," said Johan Saravanamuttu, a fellow at the Institute of South-east Asian Studies. With Anwar acquitted, he'll be riding high. He's a great orator, and he gets crowds out there," said Mr Saravanamuttu. Yet the opposition has struggled to remain unified given its member parties" ideological disagreements, which Mr Anwar will now have to work to overcome, Mr Levine said. While the ruling coalition is unlikely to win back its super majority at the next election, Pakatan is also unlikely to take power, he predicted.