Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Tuesday that Malaysia's conviction of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on sodomy charges is a setback on rights.

Malaysia's highest court rejected an appeal on Tuesday by the opposition leader against a 2014 sodomy conviction, which sent Anwar back to prison for five years.

Anwar, who was a former deputy prime minister, asserted on Tuesday that he was the victim of a "political conspiracy", AFP reported.

This conviction is likely to end his career, as it disqualifies him from political office and contesting the next election that must be held by 2018.

As mentioned in the report, Anwar was arrested on July 16, 2008, "based on a complaint from Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, a political aide, that Anwar had consensual sex with him."

This is the fourth time Anwar has been charged under section 377 of the Malaysian penal code, a law that "discriminates against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people."

“By persisting in its political vendetta using section 377, the government is also denigrating Malaysia’s LGBT community, using an archaic and discriminatory law in order to score political points shows Prime Minister Najib’s encouragement of intolerance under his rule,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at HRW said.

The United States, the United Nations and other rights' groups stated that they were disappointed by the Malaysian Federal Court ruling.