KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 — Convicted Malaysian fugitive Sirul Azhar Umar who escaped to Australia in January remains stuck in “no man’s land” despite having applied for visa protection from immigration authorities Down Under, his lawyer said today.
Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin explained that a visa protection was merely a type of visa issued to foreigners who had overstayed their visit and did not mean he was seeking protection from the Australian government.
“He was interviewed by the Australian immigration authorities on 25 November last month. Next step is that we wait first and see what’s the decision of the Australian immigration and we will help, legally, along with his Australian lawyers who are handling this case.
“There is going to be one or two obstacles given his position that he’s been judged by the apex court of this country and found him guilty and obviously that’s going to have some impact on his application which is why the process is not a clear cut process... He is in no man’s land,” Kamarul told a news conference here.
The former police commando is wanted in Malaysia to serve his mandatory death sentence for the 2006 murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu together with another former colleague Azilah Hadri, after the Federal Court reversed their acquittal in January.
Australia has an extradition treaty with Malaysia, but its laws forbid its authorities from sending a person to another country to face a death penalty unless it gets an undertaking against the person’s execution.
Kamarul said Australian immigration officials have not set a timeline for their decision, and added that Sirul’s case was complicated by the fact that he was found guilty of killing Altantuya.
He also said he was not aware if Malaysia had already made a formal request for Sirul’s extradition, noting there were legal challenges to bringing the Malaysian home from Australia due to the country’s stand on death sentences.
"As far as we're concerned, no info extradition request has been made. The process has to start with a request. Malaysia has to make a request to Australia and Australia has to process it. But so far there has been no information of the process being started or a request being put in," he said.
Sirul has been held at an immigration detention centre in Sydney since January, after leaving Malaysia following the Court of Appeal’s decision to acquit him and another former police elite Azilah Hadri, of Altantuya’s murder.
The Federal Court, however, reversed the acquittal later and sentenced the two men to death.THE MALAY MAIL ONLINE
Belum ada tanggapan untuk "Altantuya killer in ‘no man’s land’, his lawyer says as Oz mulls visa protection"
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