Karpal Singh, a tetraplegic following a road accident in Penang in 2005, literally 'died in the saddle' when his specially modified Toyota Alphard crashed into the back of a lorry on the North-South highway in the early hours of 17 April 2014. He was widely regarded as the best criminal and constitutional lawyer practising in Malaysia when he lost the game of chance everyone plays when they venture out onto a Malaysian road. One of Karpal's biggest achievements over the past 15 years was his steely defence of Malaysia's former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on two charges of sodomy and one of corruption. Many in the international community, including members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, believe the charges against Anwar were politically motivated and designed to prevent him from leading an opposition coalition to victory in the next two general elections. At the time of Karpal's death, Anwar had been sentenced to five years' imprisonment by the Court of Appeal in the Sodomy 11 case. In February 2014, Karpal was convicted of sedition in the High Court which, subject to the outcome of appeals, would have seen him lose his parliamentary seat as the MP for Bukit Gelugor. Against this background, Karpal privately believed Anwar would once again be returned to jail by the end of 2014.

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