KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia can still request Australia for the extradition of former police commando Sirul Azhar Umar, who was convicted of killing Mongolian woman, Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla said Sirul, who has been released from the Villawood Immigration Detention Center in Sydney, Australia, can also apply for a review of his death sentence in the Federal Court, following Malaysia’s abolition of the mandatory death sentence, earlier this year.
“At the time he was arrested, the death penalty was mandatory in Malaysia, which is why Australia kept him there.
“But since the mandatory death penalty has been abolished this year, those who are sentenced to hanging can, within 90 days after the new law came into effect, make an application for the Federal Court to review their death sentence,” Hanif Khatri told Scoop today.
“Let the Federal Court determine whether in the circumstances of his case, a change (in sentencing) can or cannot be made.”
The Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023 came into force in July this year, giving judges the discretion to decide on sentencing. Following this, the Review of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023 also came into force in September.
If Sirul does not pursue a review of his death sentence, Hanif Khatri said Australia might not welcome such “misuse” of Australian law in order to seek asylum there.
“They might ask, why you didn’t make the application (to review sentence), that’s your right in Malaysia, you can’t misuse Australian law for your benefit.
“Sirul should request a review, Malaysia can also make a request for extradition to get Sirul back, there is nothing else but to wait for the court’s order,” the lawyer said, adding that the Malaysian High Commission in Australia should also “play its role”.
Sirul, a former Malaysian Special Action Unit officer convicted of Altantuya’s murder in 2006, was released from detention following an Australian High Court order on November 8 that non-citizens who cannot be deported could no longer be “detained indefinitely” by immigration authorities.
Following his release, The Sydney Morning Herald reported his son, Shukri Azam, who was six years old when Altantuya was killed, claimed that he feared his father’s life would be in danger if they returned to Malaysia.
Altantuya had been linked to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and was killed by a shot to the head before her body was blown up with explosives.
In May, Shukri, 23, had appealed to the Australian government to reconsider granting his father political asylum after the first application was rejected in 2019.
The Malaysian Federal Court in 2015 has upheld Sirul and his accomplice, fellow commando Azilah Hadri’s convictions, and sentenced them to death.
They were convicted of Altantuya’s murder by the high court in 2009, and succeeded in overturning this verdict at the Court of Appeal in 2013.
Prior to the apex court’s ruling, Sirul had fled to Australia, where he stayed under the custody of Australian authorities at an immigration detention centre until his release, while Azilah is on death row in Kajang Prison. – November 12, 2023