He was once being groomed to succeed Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, now he faces a future in prison. Follow the timeline of Anwar Ibrahim's life; from his beginnings as a student leader to the convictions for corruption and sodomy
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Aug. 10, 1947 - Anwar Ibrahim is born in the northern Malaysian island of Penang.
1974 - Anwar is arrested during an anti-government protest and spends 20 months in jail.
1981 - Mahathir Mohamad becomes president of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and Malaysia's prime minister.
1982 - Anwar, the founding leader of youth Islamic organization called ABIM, shocks his liberal supporters by joining the UMNO.
1991 - Anwar moves up the political ranks and is appointed finance minister.
1993 - Anwar is made deputy to Mahathir.
April 1997 - Anwar holds the post of acting prime minister while Mahatir takes a two month holiday.
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| Anwar (L), then deputy prime minister greets Mahathir (R) after the opening of the UMNO general assembly in September 1997 | |
June 1997 - Mahathir reverses several Anwar decisions, as Malaysia faces the Asian economic crisis.
Sept. 2, 1998 - Anwar is fired from the Cabinet, amid police reports that he is under investigation for sex and corruption allegations.
Sept. 20, 1998 - Anwar leads tens of thousands in a protest march in Kuala Lumpur demanding Mahathir's resignation. He is arrested hours later.
Sept. 29, 1998 - Bruised and with a black-eye, Anwar appears in court and pleads innocent to charges of sodomy and corruption. The national police chief later admits to beating him.
Nov. 2, 1998 - Anwar's trial begins. He faces four counts of corruption.
April 1, 1999 - The corruption court hearing ends.
April 14, 1999 - Anwar is sentenced to six years in prison.
June 6, 1999 - Trial for charges of sodomy opens.
July 28, 1999 - Azizan Abu Bakar, Anwar's former family driver, tells the court he was sodomized up to 15 times by Anwar.
July 18, 2000 - Anwar's hearing ends after more than a year.
Aug. 8, 2000 - Anwar is found guilty and is sentenced to nine years prison for sodomy, to be served consecutive to his six year term for corruption.
Nov. 25, 2000 - Anwar is hospitalized for a spinal injury he claims resulted from the beating by police two years ago.
April 29, 2001 - Anwar's corruption conviction is upheld by Malaysia's Court of Appeal.
May 24, 2001 - Mahathir refuses to allow Anwar to leave the country for medical treatment for his spinal injury.
Feb. 6, 2002 - Anwar's lawyers request a longer appeal time.
April 2, 2002 - Anwar's final appeal against his corruption conviction concludes in the Federal Court.
June 25, 2002 - Deputy Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is officially named to succeed Mahathir in late 2003.
July 10, 2002 - Anwar loses his appeal against a corruption conviction.
