Controversial former attorney-general and Federal Court judge Mohtar Abdullah today died at the Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) after suffering from a long illness.

Mohtar, 58, was suffering from a stroke due to a blood clot in his brain and had been in comatose since collapsing in his home on Aug 5 last year.

HKL confirmed that Mohtar died at about 10.40am. He was born May 7, 1944, in Masjid Tanah, Melaka.

He was buried at the Bukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery after Asar prayers. Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamed Ali, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim and Chief Secretary to the Government Samsudin Osman were among those who paid him their last respects at his house in Kelana Jaya.

Last April, the government medical board had recommended that Mohtar was medically unfit to continue serving as a Federal Court judge.

The report stated that he was considered a permanent invalid, in a "vegetative state" and opined that his condition may not recover.