It is not safe for me to remain in Malaysia, says Yusoff Rawther as UK processes his asylum bid

Muhammed Yusoff Rawther, the 33-year-old who filed a sexual assault suit against Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, has sought asylum in the United Kingdom out of fear for his safety, according to his lawyer, Rafique Rashid.

Rafique said the matter was brought to his attention through an email from Yusoff early this month.

"It is not safe for me to set foot in Malaysia until circumstances materially change, the crimes committed against me are properly investigated by independent and impartial authorities, and those responsible are held to account," Rafique quoted Yusoff as saying.

Rafique said that as part of the asylum process, Yusoff's passport has been surrendered to authorities in the UK, and he is not allowed to leave the country.

Rafique believed that Yusoff's fear was well founded, referring to his client's controversial arrest in September 2024, when police raided his car and accused him of possessing drugs and firearms.

Yusoff spent the next nine months in jail while awaiting the completion of his trial.

On June 12 last year, he was acquitted of the charges, following a trial that saw prosecution witnesses bumbling during cross-examination, lending credence to widespread speculation that he was a victim of a conspiracy by politically connected individuals.

Yusoff, who is the grandson of the late Penang consumer advocate SM Mohamed Idris, has said that the drugs and firearms charges were fabricated by people in power who framed him due to his ongoing civil suit for sexual assault against Anwar.

He has also named Anwar, as well as former PKR leader turned millionaire businessman, Farhash Wafa Salvador, as among those who harboured a grudge against him.

'Many unresolved incidents'

Rafique said the fear is compounded by several unresolved incidents, such as the disappearance of Pamela Ling while on her way to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters last year, and the "mysterious death" of a Treasury officer who was found dead in his office.

"With such a scenario, he feels unsafe.

"Yusoff has gone through a very painful and disturbing process," Rafique added.

The prosecution is currently appealing against Yusoff's acquittal, with the appeals court set to convene on June 15.

Rafique said he has written to the attorney-general and the president of the Court of Appeal to allow Yusoff to be absent from the hearing, based on provisions under Section 314 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

He said his client was not absconding; instead, he was looking forward to the appeal to further clear his name.

"Yusoff did not request that his appeal be postponed or canceled without going through the hearing. Yusoff said he wants to proceed with the appeal, and we will appear in court on June 15, 2026."

Rafique meanwhile again challenged the inspector-general of police and the attorney-general regarding the status of the police reports lodged by Yusoff against Anwar and Farhash.

In an interview with MalaysiaNow earlier this year, Yusoff spoke about his life during the nine months he spent at Sungai Buloh Prison, where he was placed together with death-row prisoners.

"Being imprisoned while innocent is psychological torture that is hard to describe. I was held, despite not being convicted, in the high-security death row block, just metres from the gallows.

"For nine months, I lived among men who had exhausted every appeal and were simply waiting to die. That proximity to death was constant. It seeps into you," he said.

In 2019, Yusoff, who once worked as a research assistant at Anwar's bungalow office in Petaling Jaya, issued a statutory declaration accusing the PKR leader of sexually assaulting him on Oct 2, 2018, followed by a police report.

A subsequent police investigation saw Yusoff agreeing to take a lie detector test, while Anwar refused the test, citing the allegations against him as baseless.

Yusoff later filed a suit, seeking a court declaration that Anwar committed the sexual assault, as well as general, exemplary, and aggravated damages for suffering trauma and physical, psychological, and sociological disturbances as a result of the alleged incident.

Just three weeks before the trial was scheduled to begin on June 16 last year, Anwar made an unprecedented move to seek immunity.

Anwar has since withdrawn the application, but the move resulted in further postponement of the trial. This prompted the appeals court to instruct Anwar to pay RM50,000 in costs to Yusoff.

In late March, Anwar filed another application to postpone the trial pending the court's decision on several questions concerning claims Yusoff made.