A Malaysian court has allowed former prime minister Najib Razak to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest, according to a report by Al Jazeera.
What the court decided
Najib has been in prison since 2022 after being convicted in a case linked to the 1MDB state fund scandal. The report says the house arrest order came after his party, UMNO, crowd-funded a fine of 50 million ringgit (about $12 million) connected to the royal pardon process. His house arrest is due to run until 2028.
Cases that are still open
The ruling does not close his legal troubles. Najib faces a separate trial in which he received a 15-year sentence and a fine of about $2.5 billion, and that decision is under appeal.
Political reaction
The development has drawn attention in Malaysian politics. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has raised concerns about the matter, as per the same report.
Why it matters
1MDB is one of the biggest financial scandals in Asian history, and any change to the punishment of a former prime minister is closely watched. The appeal in the second case will decide how long his legal battle continues.
Source: Al Jazeera reporting. Photo: Government of Malaysia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2008 file photo).
