Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim voices support for Erdoğan

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who was recently freed from jail, has voiced his support for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey's upcoming elections.

Ibrahim, 70, used to be Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's former deputy; he was sentenced to five years behind bars on sodomy charges in February 2015 and came to Turkey upon Erdoğan 's invitation after he was released last week.

His release marked the first major success of the newly-elected Pakatan Harapan coalition.

Mahathir, 92, has promised to hand over the premiership to Ibrahim within a year or two.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency, Ibrahim described Erdoğan as "the most popular leader among Muslims of Malaysia and outside Malaysia because of his position on Palestine and on what happened to the Middle East".

Ibrahim said he supports Erdoğan in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey "because there is one leader that shows courage against the powers in the world".

"Very few leaders of the world would have that courage to go and fight for justice."

Ibrahim recalled the Turkish president invited his wife and daughter to Turkey when he was in jail.

"Every time he [Erdoğan ] meets [former] Prime Minister Najib [Razak] or Deputy Prime Minister Zahid [Hamidi], he always makes it a point to remind [them] for my release," Ibrahim said, recalling that Erdoğan also invited him to Turkey as soon as he was freed from jail.

"Jail is of course a hell on earth, but as I always say, the God is kind and supportive, but the rules are difficult. You lose weight, you become sick, you have injuries, lots of problems," Ibrahim said.

"Many of us experienced jail. President Tayyip Erdoğan experienced jail and that makes us more patient, wiser and hopefully a better leader."