Singapore: For the past eight years Sirul Azhar Umar has been held in Australia for his part in a grisly, politically charged murder that rocked Malaysia and remains shrouded in mystery.
A member of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak’s police security detail while he was defence minister, Sirul was sentenced to death over the killing in 2006 of Mongolian translator and model Altantuyaa Shaariibuu in a jungle outside Kuala Lumpur but he had already fled to Australia. He was eventually arrested on an Interpol red notice and sent to immigration detention.
Sirul Azhar Umar was arrested in Australia in 2015 and has been held at Sydney’s Villawood detention centre.Credit: Interpol
The Australian government has declined to extradite him since he and Azilah Hadri, another former Najib bodyguard, were condemned to be hanged for the crime in 2015, adhering to its policy of not deporting a prisoner to a country where they face execution.
Now, however, a major shift in Malaysia’s approach to capital punishment has opened up the possibility of the 51-year-old eventually being returned home.
The South-East Asian nation has abolished the mandatory death penalty, which applied to serious crimes including murder, drug trafficking and treason, and will allow all 1318 convicts on death row to have their sentences reviewed in the country’s highest court, the Federal Court.
Sirul, who has always claimed he was acting under orders and has previously offered to reveal the mastermind if he was granted a pardon, is among those eligible to have his sentence re-examined and potentially commuted to prison time.
Mongolian model and translator Altantuyaa Shaariibuu had been in a relationship with an adviser to then-defence minister Najib Razak, who later became prime minister.
“Having regard to the fact that he has been convicted together with another person by the name of Azilah, who is in Malaysia ... of course, we would want him to come back,” Malaysia’s Deputy Law Minister Ramkarpal Singh told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
“There are a lot of things that have been unanswered. But at this point of time he cannot be extradited according to the laws of Australia.”
Describing the murder as one of Malaysia’s most gruesome, he added: “If there was an application for his case to be considered, the courts would have to look at the entire facts and circumstances of his case to decide whether he is entitled to his sentence being commuted.”
Altantuyaa was 28 and pregnant when Sirul and Azilah abducted her in Kuala Lumpur, shooting her twice in the head before blowing up her body with explosives.
Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda was charged over the murder but was acquitted in 2008.Credit: AP
The killing was not only notable for its horrific nature but the intense political intrigue surrounding it.
Altantuyaa had worked as a translator during negotiations for Malaysia’s acquisition of two French and Spanish-built submarines for $US2 billion in 2002 and, before her death, was reported to have demanded $US500,000 not to reveal details about alleged kickbacks related to the deal.
She had also been having a relationship with Abdul Razak Baginda, an adviser to Najib, who was then defence minister and who became prime minister between 2009 and 2018.
Najib, who last year began a 12-year jail term for corruption over Malaysia’s multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, always denied knowing Altantuyaa and giving the order to murder her.
Abdul Razak, who was initially charged with abetting the killing, was acquitted in 2008.
Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was jailed for corruption last year.Credit: AP
However, Altantuyaa’s family has continued to pursue justice for her and prevailed in a civil case in December in which Abdul Razak, Sirul, Azilah and the Malaysian government were held liable and ordered to pay 5 million ringgit ($1.67 million) in compensation. On Wednesday, her family applied for those damages to be increased, having originally sought 100 million ringgit.
Singh, the deputy law minister, had acted for Altantuyaa’s family as a lawyer before joining the current government, led by Anwar Ibrahim. He has been in Australia this week speaking about his country’s abolition of the mandatory death penalty.
Asked what information Sirul might be able to provide if he was sent back to Malaysia, he said: “It is difficult for me to answer that now. But of course there have been – generally speaking here – a lot of questions as to how this unfortunate incident came about in the first place. You know, was there anyone who ordered it, and so on and so forth. These are questions that are still very much unanswered in Malaysia.”
Malaysia Deputy Law Minister Ramkarpal Singh has been in Australia this week.Credit: AP
Whether Sirul, a former police commando, would want to return to Malaysia or remain indefinitely in Australia is another question.
His mother, Piah Samat, told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age when visiting him at Sydney’s Villawood immigration detention centre in 2015 that he was safer in Australia.
Malaysia could revoke Sirul’s death sentence to smooth the way for him to be extradited but it has refrained from doing so.
While the death penalty has not been scrapped altogether, it can now only be handed out by courts for the most serious crimes, not as a mandatory sentence dictated by the state.
The reforms also include natural life prison sentences being replaced by 30- to 40-year terms.
Malaysia has also had a moratorium in place on carrying out executions since 2018.
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