KUALA LUMPUR: There will be issues concerning the death penalty in any extradition request to bring former police commando Sirul Azhar Umar back to the country, says Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain.
“We have to see it from dual (criminal justice systems) where the punishment for a crime in Malaysia and Australia are the same.
"That means if the sentence there is life imprisonment, then it is the same here.
“In Sirul’s case, there is no death penalty there (Australia), but (we have it)," he said here on Tuesday (Nov 14).
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Razarudin noted that Malaysia only abolished the mandatory death penalty, making it discretionary.
The IGP said that as long as the death sentence on Sirul remained enforceable, it is unlikely that Australia would cooperate in his extradition.
“Unless, now, Sirul himself wants to return, or appeals to the court here to (review) his punishment," he added.
In 2009, Sirul and accomplice former chief inspector Azilah Hadri were convicted of murdering Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu and were sentenced to death.
The Court of Appeal overturned their sentences in 2013 but upon the prosecution's appeal, the sentences were upheld by the Federal Court.
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Sirul fled to Australia, where he was detained by Immigration there after Interpol issued a red notice on him.
Sirul was released last week after an Australian High Court decision on Nov 8 ruled that non-citizens unable to be deported could no longer be detained indefinitely.
Altantuya, 28, is believed to have been shot dead before her body was blown up with explosives at a secondary forest near the Subang Dam in Puncak Alam, Shah Alam in 2006.
