PUTRAJAYA, March 11 (Bernama) -- Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim contends that the High Court judge had erred in ruling that there was no real danger of bias if he continued to hear Anwar's sodomy case.

This was one of the four grounds given in his appeal petition to the Court of Appeal to set aside Justice Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah's decision on Feb 18 not to recuse himself from trying the case.

The petition was filed at the Federal Court registry through the law firm of Messrs S.N.Nair & Partners yesterday.

The Court of Appeal has fixed March 19 to hear the appeal.

Anwar had filed for the recusal of the judge on the ground that Mohamad Zabidin was biased in refusing to entertain the application by his lead counsel, Karpal Singh, to hold Utusan Melaysia in contempt relating to two articles published by the newspaper.

He is charged with sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 25, at unit 11-5-1, Desa Damansara Condominium, Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara, between 3.01pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.

The trial has been postponed to March 25 for mention pending the court's decision in the appeal.

The other grounds in the appeal petition included that Mohamad Zabidin had erred in law in deciding that there was no reason for him to recuse himself and in saying that if he recused himself, it would mean that he was running away from his responsibility as a judge.