Australia won't budge on Sirul, encourages death penalty abolition

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said her country's position on Malaysian fugitive Sirul Azhar Umar was a matter of principle as it involved the death penalty.

"The Australia position is a matter of principle - that extradition cases take into account whether or not the death penalty will be applied in the applying country," she told a press conference after a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in Parliament today.

Bishop said she had discussed Malaysia's intention to consider abolishing the death penalty.

"We advocate strongly the abolition of death penalty.

"We are on the human rights council now and the abolishment of the death penalty is one of the pillars of that advocacy," she said.

However, Bishop stressed that Malaysia has to date not filed a formal extradition request for Sirul.

"I have to point out again that there is no application for extradition in this particular case.

"He is in an immigration detention. There has been no application for extradition by the Malaysian government and that was confirmed by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently," she said.

The Federal Court in 2015 found police commandos Sirul and Azilah Hadri guilty of murdering Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu and sentenced them to death in 2006. 

The duo was at the time attached with the police's elite Special Actions Unit and bodyguards to then deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Altantuya was shot to death and her body was subsequently blown up with military-grade explosives.

Azilah is on a death row but Sirul fled to Australia prior to the decision by the apex court. - Mkini