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Singapore: Jailed former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak says leaders in Kuala Lumpur should push for the extradition of convicted hitman Sirul Azhar Umar from Australia by assuring the government in Canberra that he won’t be executed.

Sirul, 51, was one of 93 immigration detainees controversially released in Australia a fortnight ago as a result of a High Court decision that upended the indefinite confinement of foreigners who could not be deported.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak refutes suggestions he sought to silence Sirul Azhar Umar.Credit: VINCENT THIAN

The former prime ministerial bodyguard escaped to Australia in 2015, just before he was convicted for a second time and sentenced to be hanged over the infamous slaying of Mongolian model and one-time government translator Altantuyaa Shaariibuu nine years earlier.

Now free and living in Canberra with his 23-year-old son after being let out of Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney, he has appealed for the community to accept him, claiming he was made a scapegoat over the killing and alluding to powerful figures in the background.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, he said he had been paid 1 million Malaysian ringgit ($325,000) via his solicitor for his silence about who ordered the murder of 28-year-old Altantuyaa, who had an affair with Najib political adviser Abdul Razak Baginda and who had threatened to reveal illegal kickbacks linked to a submarine deal she had worked on as a translator.

The claims have prompted Najib, who was defence minister responsible for the country’s purchase of the French Scorpene class submarines in 2002, to weigh in from Kajang prison south of Kuala Lumpur, where he is serving a 12-year term over Malaysia’s 1MDB corruption scandal. 

Sirul Azhar Umar does not want to return to Malaysia.Credit: Screengrab/Al Jazeera

“Our client requests the current Malaysian government to engage with the Australian
authorities with an aim to facilitate Mr Sirul’s extradition to Malaysia, ensuring a
comprehensive investigation into his claims,” said a statement released by Najib’s lawyer Shafee Abdullah on Najib’s behalf.

“To support this, our client suggests that the Malaysian government might offer assurances against the imposition of the death penalty to facilitate the broader objective of truth and justice.”

The Australian government has been unable to return Sirul to Malaysia since he was picked up on an Interpol notice nearly nine years ago, adhering to a policy of not extraditing people to their home country if they face the death penalty.

In practice, Malaysia is moving away from capital punishment, having imposed a moratorium on executions in 2018 and having not carried out any since 2017. This year Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government also abolished the mandatory death penalty for the most serious of crimes and has offered the more than 1300 inmates with such a sentence hanging over them the opportunity to lodge judicial reviews and have their penalties commuted to jail time.

Azilah Hadri, the other former police commando found guilty over Altantuyaa’s murder, has been on death row since 2015 and has now sought a pardon.

But under Malaysian law it is up to Sirul to apply for a sentencing downgrade, and if he does not, he technically remains subject to the death penalty.

Responding to his allegations about hush money, Najib’s lawyer took umbrage at the “vague assertion that our client exerts interference or influence over Sirul”.

“Najib categorically denies any allegations of seeking to influence or silence Mr Sirul. In fact, he urges Mr Sirul to be brave and to disclose any information he may have
regarding the purported mastermind, in the interest of uncovering the truth, transparency and justice,” the statement from the former leader’s legal team said.

In bidding for a re-trial in 2019, Azilah alleged it was Najib who gave the directive to kill then pregnant Altantuyaa.

Najib has always denied any connection to the murder, and in the statement on Saturday night his lawyer said the ex-prime minister “has been conclusively exonerated of any involvement in this case”.

Najib has also requested a pardon from the Malaysian king that if granted would have him released from jail. He has been in prison since August last year.

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