KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has filed an application for a Syariah High Court's order to expedite a qazaf (criminal defamation) charge against his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Anwar, 63, who was accompanied by his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, filed the notice at the Syariah High Court office here today through his lawyers, headed by Kamar Ainiah Kamaruzaman.

In his application notice, Anwar named Federal Territory (FT) chief syarie prosecutor Shamsuddin Hussain, FT Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) director Datuk Che Mat Che Ali and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Jamil Khir as respondents.

Anwar sought the Syariah High Court to compel Shamsuddin to use his authority to expedite a qazaf charge against Mohd Saiful and refrain Che Mat and Jamil from stopping the proceeding.

Anwar claimed that a false report, claiming that he sodomised Mohd Saiful, was lodged at the Jawi Enforcement and Prosecution Division on July 9, 2008, and he (Anwar) was called up to give a statement but until today there were no feedbacks from Jawi.

However, Anwar said he learned that the report was completed. The application notice inferred that on Oct 27 last year, Jamil stated that Anwar should wait for his sodomy trial to be concluded before the qazaf proceeding could be continued.

Anwar, however, argued that both cases were different from one another.

The court fixed Wednesday for mention while the prosecution has 14 days to reply to the notice.

Speaking to reporters, Anwar said he asked the prosecution to start qazaf proceeding against Saiful without the involvement of other parties.