Singapore won’t cop idiots like Zaky Mallah, Peter Dutton says

Peter Dutton says he hates talking about “attention seekers’’ like Zaky Mallah, who was deemed a threat to the Trump-Kim summit.

Zaky Mallah has been detained in Singapore.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says Singapore “won’t cop idiots” like Zaky Mallah as the former terror suspect awaits deportation back to Australia. Mallah was interrogated for five hours after landing in the island republic on Tuesday night.

He was deemed a security threat ahead of next week’s summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Mr Dutton said he hated talking about “attention seekers” like Mallah. “He’s this ‘zealot’ and he’s ‘so principled’ yet he runs around in Nike gear, he’s got trendy western gear on, so he’s a joke this guy,” the minister told 2GB radio on Thursday.

“He’s an attention-seeker and I hate even talking about him, but he’ll be on a plane I suspect, back to Australia very soon. Singapore won’t cop idiots like that.” — AAP

Zaky Mallah held in Singapore

Zaky Mallah, a Sydney man who pleaded guilty to threatening to kill Australian intelligence officers, has been detained in Singapore and questioned about his travel in Syria.

Mallah, 34, flew into Singapore last night and was detained at the airport, where he was questioned for several hours by local authorities.

Mallah was acquitted by a jury in 2005 on two terrorism charges. He flew into the centre of a political storm when the ABC allowed him to ask a question in the audience of Q&A.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening Commonwealth officers but was released on a two-year good behaviour bond.

Seven News reported today that Mallah was questioned for five hours and had been held in a holding cell in Singapore Airport.

“They asked me questions about my history, my dealings with the Australian government, ASIO, my trip to Turkey, Syria,” Mallah said.

“They asked me if I was in Syria fighting, more or less.”

Mallah told Seven News he believed an upcoming summit with US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was the reason he was arrested.

“The last thing they need is someone like me with my history to be in the same country as that,” Mallah said, insisting he has changed since his charges more than a decade ago.

“I did the crime, I served the time, and life moves on,” he said.