Australia’s Immigration Department said that it
has not ruled out the possibility of convicted murderer Sirul Azhar Umar
giving tell-all television interviews provided proper application
processes were met.
"Generally, the department does not facilitate interviews within detention facilities for operational reasons," a spokesperson for Immigration minister, Peter Dutton, told Australia’s The Age newspaper.
The unnamed spokesperson was reported yesterday to have said that the department has not approved any television interviews with Sirul, a 43-year-old police commando who has been sentenced to death in Malaysia and is currently held at Sydney's Villawood detention centre.
According to The Age,
Sirul would need top-level approval for a media interview in
Villawood's maximum security Blaxland unit, where he has been held since
his arrest in Brisbane, Queensland, on Jan 20.
Malaysiakini has earlier reported that Sirul was being approached by a number of Australian television stations for interviews to reveal who allegedly ordered him and his compatriot, Azilah Hadri, to kill Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006.
Both men were part of then deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s security detail and on Thursday, Prime Minister Najib rubbished Sirul’s claim that he was ordered by his superiors to kill Shaariibuu.
"Utter rubbish," Najib said when questioned by a Malaysiakini reporter during a Chinese New Year’s open house.
No motive mentioned
Numerous questions have surfaced pertaining to the murder case. Chief among them was that the prosecution and courts failed to establish a motive for the grisly murder.
Najib has repeatedly denied ever meeting Shaariibuu (right) and even swore in the name of God that he had nothing to do with the matter.
His former aide de camp, deputy superintendent Musa Safri, who reportedly told Azilah to help Razak Baginda on the night of the murder, was however not called to testify in the sensational trial.
This was one of the reasons cited by the Court of Appeal in freeing both Azilah and Sirul in 2012, only for its decision to be reversed by the Federal Court last month.
Azilah, who was present when the apex court delivered its decision, was immediately led to death row to await his execution while Sirul fled to Queenland.
The government had vowed to file an application to extradite him despite Australian law dictating that a person facing the death penalty in his or her home country cannot be sent back.
"Generally, the department does not facilitate interviews within detention facilities for operational reasons," a spokesperson for Immigration minister, Peter Dutton, told Australia’s The Age newspaper.
The unnamed spokesperson was reported yesterday to have said that the department has not approved any television interviews with Sirul, a 43-year-old police commando who has been sentenced to death in Malaysia and is currently held at Sydney's Villawood detention centre.
According to The Age,
Sirul would need top-level approval for a media interview in
Villawood's maximum security Blaxland unit, where he has been held since
his arrest in Brisbane, Queensland, on Jan 20. Malaysiakini has earlier reported that Sirul was being approached by a number of Australian television stations for interviews to reveal who allegedly ordered him and his compatriot, Azilah Hadri, to kill Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006.
Both men were part of then deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s security detail and on Thursday, Prime Minister Najib rubbished Sirul’s claim that he was ordered by his superiors to kill Shaariibuu.
"Utter rubbish," Najib said when questioned by a Malaysiakini reporter during a Chinese New Year’s open house.
No motive mentioned
Numerous questions have surfaced pertaining to the murder case. Chief among them was that the prosecution and courts failed to establish a motive for the grisly murder.
Najib has repeatedly denied ever meeting Shaariibuu (right) and even swore in the name of God that he had nothing to do with the matter.His former aide de camp, deputy superintendent Musa Safri, who reportedly told Azilah to help Razak Baginda on the night of the murder, was however not called to testify in the sensational trial.
This was one of the reasons cited by the Court of Appeal in freeing both Azilah and Sirul in 2012, only for its decision to be reversed by the Federal Court last month.
Azilah, who was present when the apex court delivered its decision, was immediately led to death row to await his execution while Sirul fled to Queenland.
The government had vowed to file an application to extradite him despite Australian law dictating that a person facing the death penalty in his or her home country cannot be sent back.
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