Julie Bishop
KUALA LUMPUR: Australia said yesterday it has yet to receive any application from Malaysia seeking the extradition of convicted policeman Sirul Azhar Umar who sought refuge in that country.
Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop said Sirul Azhar, who was sentenced to death for the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2009 in Malaysia, was being held in an immigration detention centre in Australia.
“Let me make this clear. He is in immigration detention. He is being held in detention and there has been no application for extradition. That has been confirmed by (Malaysian Prime Minister) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently,” she told a press conference after paying a courtesy call on Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail at the latter’s office in Parliament.
Bishop was also asked on the expected timeline for Sirul Azhar to be sent back to Malaysia.
She said that since there was no extradition application, it would be inappropriate for her to speculate on the timeline.
In 2009, Sirul Azhar and chief inspector Azilah Hadri were sentenced to death after being found guilty of the murder of Altantuya in 2006. The Court of Appeal overturned the judgment but the Federal Court reinstated it.
Between the overturning of the judgment and its reinstatement, Sirul Azhar fled to Australia where he was eventually detained by the immigration authorities.
Asked about Australia’s stand on the matter, Bishop said Australia’s position, as a matter of principle, was that extradition cases would take into account whether the death penalty would be applied in the country seeking the extradition.
Dr Wan Azizah was recently reported as saying that the Malaysian government was mulling abolition of the mandatory death penalty in legislation pertaining to criminal offences in a move that could leave Australian authorities with no choice but to send back Sirul Azhar.
Asked about this, Dr Wan Azizah said the proposed abolition of the death penalty was among the matters discussed at her meeting with Bishop.
“We also spoke about the death penalty, about how Malaysia will look into the matter of the abolition of the death penalty,” Dr Wan Azizah said.
Bishop said the abolition of the death penalty was a position that Australia had long advocated strongly, both within the country and abroad. — Bernama