Sirul Azhar Umar was one of two bodyguards sentenced to death in 2015 over the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu.
But Australia is expected to delay his deportation until after Malaysia abolishes the death penalty.
Ms Altantuya had worked as a translator on a $1 billion Malaysian deal to buy French submarines, which was embroiled in allegations of bribery and kickbacks.
She had also been having an affair with Abdul Baginda Razak, a close confidante of Mr Najib, who was at the time Malaysia's deputy prime minister.
Sirul and the other bodyguard, Azilah Hadri, were found to have shot Ms Altantuya several times in the head in a patch of jungle outside Kuala Lumpur in 2006.
They then blew up her body with military grade explosives.
Azilah is now in jail, but Sirul, a former police corporal, maintains his innocence, insisting he was ordered by his superiors to carry out the killing.
He has never said who wanted Ms Altantuya killed or why.
Ms Altantuya's family is hoping Sirul's return will shed light on who ordered her killing.
Last month Ms Altantuya's father launched a civil case against the two Malaysian bodyguards, her former lover, and the Malaysian Government.
Sirul has previously offered to tell all if he is granted a full pardon by Malaysian authorities.
There has long been speculation the 28-year-old was killed to stop her exposing the bribes allegedly paid during the submarine sale to close confidantes of Mr Najib.
Despite a photograph purporting to show her with Mr Najib and her former lover in Paris, he has vehemently denied ever meeting her, or having anything to do with her death.
"That is slander. Lies. I never met her," he was quoted as saying by the Malaysiakini online news portal last month.
'Non-political crime'
Sirul has been in Sydney's Villawood detention centre for more than four years after he fled to Australia in 2014 while on bail.
A Malaysian associate of Sirul's living in Australia — who does not want to be named — said he took his case for political asylum to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Sydney.
"He wants to be released into the Australian society, released from detention, so that he could go into the Australian society and live, because he said that his crime was a political crime," he said.
After a lengthy court process, the tribunal rejected Sirul's initial claim, and an appeal on Monday, on the grounds it was not a political crime.
"There are serious reasons for considering that the applicant committed in Malaysia a serious non-political crime before entering Australia," the tribunal ruled.
It found no suggestion "that a state-ordered assassination would amount to a political crime".
A lawyer for Ms Altantuya's family, Ramkarpal Singh, spoke recently to Malaysian media in Kuala Lumpur.
"The Australian Government … even if there is a moratorium [on the death penalty], I don't think they'll send him back as long as the death penalty is in existence," he said.
By South-East Asia correspondent Anne Barker
No comments:
Post a Comment