The Kuala Lumpur High Court on Monday dismissed Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s bid to secure freedom ahead of the country’s general elections, which may be called within weeks. The former deputy prime minister had sought to strike out his sodomy conviction, with his lawyers arguing that perjured evidence was submitted in the proceedings that eventually saw him sent him to prison in February 2015. Last year he filed a new legal challenge to his five-year jail sentence on sodomy charges that are widely seen as politically-motivated. Mr Anwar’s conviction in Malaysia’s highest court barred him from running for office, in a crushing blow to the country’s opposition alliance that has since splintered, unless the Malaysian King pardon him. His first bid for a royal pardon was rejected in 2015.