Australia wants assurance Sirul will not be sent to the gallows

Guilty: Sirul (left) and Azilah

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will have to convince Australia that former police commando Sirul Azhar Umar will not be sent to the gallows before the country will agree to send him back, said a spokesman for Australia’s Attorney-General’s Department.

“Australia’s extradition legislation does not allow a person to be surrendered to another country for an offence punishable by death unless the country has given Australia an undertaking that the death penalty will not be carried out on the person,” the official said in an e-mail response to The Star.