Bodyguard sentenced to death over model’s assassination is freed from Sydney detention

Singapore: A former Malaysian prime ministerial bodyguard who was sentenced to death over a gruesome, politically charged murder has walked free from detention in Australia after being held for almost nine years.

Sirul Azhar Umar was released following a High Court decision last week that ruled that non-citizens who were unable to be deported could no longer be detained indefinitely by immigration authorities.

Slain model and translator Altantuyaa Shaariibuu and her killer Sirul Azhar Umar.Credit:

As many as 92 people – mostly refugees, but including some others found guilty of violent crimes – are as a result being released and permitted to remain in Australia under special conditions.

Sirul, who was convicted in Malaysia over the infamous 2006 murder of 28-year-old Mongolian translator and model Altantuyaa Shaariibuu, is among them, with his Australian-based son Shukri Azam Bin Sirul Azhar confirming early on Sunday that he was out.

Mongolian model and translator Altantuyaa Shaariibuu was killed.

“[He is] with me right now, and I’m handling everything on his behalf right now,” he told this masthead in an email.

News of the release is likely to make waves in Malaysia, where speculation continues about who ordered the killing and rumours have persisted that it was carried out to stop Altantuyaa revealing alleged kickbacks in a $US2 billion submarine deal on which she had worked as a translator.

Sirul, who is in his early 50s, has carried the secret with him since he escaped in January 2015 to Australia, where he was arrested on an Interpol notice and detained at Sydney’s Villawood immigration detention centre.

The Australian government would not send him back to Malaysia as he faced execution over the shooting of the pregnant Altantuyaa in a jungle outside Kuala Lumpur, where he and fellow hitman Azilah Hadri, who was also a government bodyguard, then blew up her body with explosives.

The Australian high commission in Kuala Lumpur informed Malaysian government officials about the High Court’s decision.

While Anwar Ibrahim’s Malaysian government has this year abolished the mandatory death penalty and offered all 1318 convicts on death row the opportunity to have their sentences reviewed, it has not been eliminated from the country’s justice system.

As a result, Sirul still cannot be extradited under Australian law. Instead, he will be able to live in Australia with strict visa conditions attached. They will be applied individually depending on the circumstances of the freed detainee, but can include monitoring requirements such as the need to report to the Department of Home Affairs when specified and report any change of personal details such as their address and email address before they happen.

It is believed Sirul is staying in Canberra with his son, who has lived quietly in Australia for more than a decade.

A spokesperson for Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Andrew Giles referred to a joint statement with Minister for Home Affairs Clare O’Neil in which they said the High Court ruling required the release of “affected people from immigration detention”.

“The Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force are working closely with state and territory authorities and law enforcement to support community safety,” the statement said.

“The government is considering other measures that may be appropriate to ensure community safety as we work through the implications of the High Court’s decision and await the court’s reasons being handed down.”

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The government had “argued that previous detention settings were constitutionally valid”, they said.

Giles said on Friday that the man who brought the case to the High Court – a Rohingya man who raped a 10-year-old boy in Sydney – had also been released.

At the time of the Malaysian killing, Sirul had been a member of the police security detail for former prime minister Najib Razak, who was then defence minister. Najib, who is serving a 12-year prison sentence for corruption over the $US4.5 billion 1MDB scandal, has always vehemently denied any connection to the murder.

In a handwritten letter to this masthead, Sirul’s son in May appealed to the Australian government to grant political asylum to his father, who has maintained he was acting on orders.

He said he feared his father would be assassinated if he ever returned to Malaysia. “Whatever happens ... me and my father have made our final decision that we will not be going back or step our foot or finger in Malaysia,” he said.

The Malaysian government was contacted for comment.

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