A Malaysian court on Monday acquitted opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of sodomy charges after a two-year trial, the BBC reported.
In his ruling on Monday, Judge Zabidin Mohamad Diah said DNA samples provided as evidence were unreliable.
Anwar, 64, had been accused of having sex with a former male aide. He had faced whipping and up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
Sex between males is illegal in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
Anwar, seen as a key figure in Malaysia’s opposition alliance of Islamists and an ethnic Chinese party, had consistently denied the charges, saying he was the victim of a government-orchestrated plot.
“The court is always reluctant to convict on sexual offences without corroborative evidence. Therefore, the accused is acquitted and discharged,” the judge told the packed Kuala Lumpur courtroom.
The verdict comes ahead of an expected general election this year.
“Thank God justice has prevailed,” Anwar told journalists after the verdict. “I have been vindicated. To be honest I am a little surprised.”
Anwar, former deputy prime minister and finance minister, was jailed in 1998 for six years for sodomy and corruption after falling out with the then leader Mahathir Mohammad.
The sodomy conviction was overturned in 2004.
Two people were injured in three small explosions in a car park outside the courtroom as the verdict was delivered, the Xinhua news agency said.
