MalayMail-Nov 14
Malaysia will not be able to get Australia to send Sirul Azhar Umar — one of two former police commandos convicted for the 2006 murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu in Selangor — back as long as his death sentence remains hanging over his head, lawyers said. They told Malay Mail that it is now up to Sirul to apply to the Federal Court in Malaysia for his death sentence to be replaced with a jail term and whipping. But if he chooses not to do so and his death sentence remains, there is nothing that Malaysia can do under current laws to have Sirul extradited from Australia, the lawyers confirmed. Senior criminal lawyer Datuk N. Sivananthan told Malay Mail that the option of remaining in Australia would be more attractive to Sirul. “Since Sirul has been freed from detention, he can now remain in Australia indefinitely so I don’t see why he would return to Malaysia where at best a sentence between 30 to 40 years awaits him,” he added. Sirul had been in immigration detention in Australia for close to a decade, after he absconded there before the Federal Court’s 2015 decision which restored his murder conviction. Australia has so far declined to deport or send him back to Malaysia due to his death sentence here. But Malaysia in July abolished the mandatory death penalty for offences such as murder and in September allowed Death Row prisoners to apply for review of their death sentences. Under the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023, the courts will now have the option of choosing between giving a death sentence or other alternatives for certain offences, including the offence of murder. Read more at: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/11/14/stalemate-malaysia-still-cant-get-sirul-extradited-from-australia-due-to-death-penalty-up-to-him-to-seek-jail-alternative-lawyers-say/101883
