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Former policeman Sirul Azhar Umar claimed the order to kill Ms Altantuya Shaariibuu was made by a top politician. PHOTO: THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, SIN CHEW DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK ‘I was paid RM1 million to keep silent’: Malaysian ex-cop convicted in murder of Mongolian model. For image info, go to https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/i-was-paid-rm1-million-to-keep-silent-in-australia-says-ex-cop-convicted-in-murder-of-altantuya
Killer cop still roaming freely in Australia
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10, 2024: One of the two cops sentenced to death for killing Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006 today had his sentence commuted to 40 years jail.
A three-judge panel led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat commuted the death sentence of Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, in line with the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023 which was effective July 4 last year.
The question now is when will the other killer cop, police commando Sirul Azhar Umar, going to be brought back to Malaysia to face justice and punishment?
Shame on Australia … it is okay for Aussies to have a convicted killer cop roaming freely in their streets. Why? What type of “political game” is this?
The following is a comment on social media:
FOR MANY, UNTIL THE MASTERMIND(S) ARE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE, ALTANTUYA’S HORRIFIC MURDER HAS YET TO BE RESOLVED.
The two former police commandos convicted for the 2006 murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu might have been sentenced accordingly.
That we know. Whether it’s death or 40 years’ jail; or still lying low in Australia. I think it does not matter anymore.
How many millions in compensation paid to Altantuya’s family, if any, is also irrelevant to us.
What we, Malaysians (and the world, too), want to know is the answer to the most important question in this murder case – WHO ARE THE MASTERMIND(s) AND WHY ARE THEY GETTING AWAY SCOT-FREE?
Don’t merely preach that “No one is above the law”. Show us that this is for real, in Malaysia. – fs
No News Is Bad News reproduces below a news report on Azilah escaping the gallows:
Malaysia
Azilah escapes the gallows, gets 40 years' jail
A three-judge panel led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat substituted his death sentence to 40 years in jail
Updated 2 hours ago · Published on 10 Oct 2024 1:45PM
Azilah was convicted in 2009 for the murder of Altantuya. - October 10, 2024
FORMER chief inspector Azilah Hadri escaped the gallows after the Putrajaya Federal Court commuted his death sentence to 40 years' imprisonment for murdering Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006.
A three-judge panel led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat substituted his death sentence to 40 years in jail, effective from his date of arrest, and 12 strokes of the rotan.
Azilah was convicted in 2009 for the murder of Altantuya.
This follows the passing of the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023, which took effect on July 4, last year.
Under the new law, judges now have the discretion to impose either the death penalty or imprisonment of not less than 30 years and up to 40 years.
Azilah was aged 30 and the chief inspector with the police’s special action unit (UTK) when he was charged with the murder, and was aged 39 when the Federal Court decided that both he and fellow police commando Sirul Azhar Umar are guilty of the crime.
At the time of Azilah’s conviction for murdering Altantuya, the punishment under the Penal Code’s Section 302 was a mandatory death sentence. This means the courts had no discretion to hand down alternative sentences.
In the unanimous decision, Tengku Maimun said there were strong mitigating factors and valid reasons for the court to exercise its discretion in favour of the applicant.
"We set aside the death sentence and substitute it with imprisonment for 40 years from the date of arrest on Nov 1, 2006, excluding the period where the applicant was released by the Court of Appeal, and 12 strokes (of the rotan)," she said.
Altantuya, 28, was murdered in a deserted area in Shah Alam, Selangor, in October 2006 and her remains were blown up with military-grade explosives.
Azilah, 48, stands among the final batch of death row prisoners who are trying to have their death sentence commuted to lifetime imprisonment, which now means 30 to 40 years in jail.
The Federal Court panel hearing Azilah’s application is also composed of the President of the Court of Appeal Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court judge Datuk Nordin Hassan.
In 2009, the Shah Alam High Court imposed the death penalty against the duo after finding them guilty of murdering Altantuya.
However, the duo were then unanimously acquitted by a three-member Court of Appeal bench led by Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, where present Chief Justice (CJ) Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat wrote the judgement in freeing them on Aug 23, 2013.
In a turn of events, a five-member bench led by then CJ Tun Arifin Zakaria unanimously reversed the appellate court decision on Jan 13, 2015, resulting in Azilah facing the death sentence while Sirul had left the country for Australia, where he had been detained under Australian immigration law until his release late last year there. - October 10, 2024
Man convicted in murder case that rocked Malaysia claims paid for silence
A former policeman protests his innocence, insisting he was paid to remain silent to protect former PM Najib Razak.
Murder in Malaysia: World Exclusive Interview with Sirul Azhar Umar | 101 East
Published On 25 Nov 202325 Nov 2023
Canberra, Australia – For the past nine years, Sirul Azhar Umar, 52, was locked up in an Australian detention centre for overstaying a tourist visa.
On November 8, 2023, Australia’s High Court ruled it was illegal to indefinitely detain non-citizens who couldn’t be deported.
The former policeman was one such detainee and was subsequently freed. Sirul was sentenced to death in his homeland of Malaysia for the brutal murder of a 28-year-old Mongolian translator in 2006, but Australian law forbids the return of foreigners to countries where they face the death penalty.
Now living in Australia’s capital, Canberra, with his 23-year-old son, for the first time, Sirul talks about the murder he was convicted of in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera’s 101 East.
Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu and Abdul Razak Baginda, an adviser of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Shaariibuu was abducted from her home and brutally murdered in 2006 [101 East/Al Jazeera]
The murder
One night in October 2006, Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu was abducted from her former lover’s home, and driven to a jungle on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, where she was shot and blown up with military-grade explosives.
The kidnappers were Sirul and his superior officer, Azilah Hadri, both members of the elite security detail for Malaysia’s then-deputy prime minister, Najib Razak.
“Azilah told me this [was a] special operation for … Mr Najib,” Sirul says. “And I just obey because he is my superior.”
Shaariibuu’s ex-lover was Abdul Razak Baginda, an adviser and confidant of Najib.
Baginda brokered an allegedly corrupt billion-dollar submarine deal between Malaysia and France that was signed off by Najib when he was defence minister in 2002.
Shaariibuu had accompanied Baginda to Paris, and in 2006, was allegedly pushing for the $500,000 she was owed for assisting with the deal.
“Azilah told me, ‘This girl is disturbing Razak’,” Sirul recalls, insisting he was never at the murder scene and that the last time he saw Shaariibuu she was still alive.
“I didn’t do murder. But yes, I’m involved. I get [her] from Razak Baginda’s house,” he says. “And then I gave [her] to Azilah … and then … I don’t know nothing.”
Sirul Azhar Umar, right, and his superior officer Azilah Hadri were found guilty of Altantuya Shaariibuu’s murder in 2009 [101 East/Al Jazeera]
No motive
The bodyguards were found guilty of Shaariibuu’s murder in 2009 and sentenced to death but no motive has ever been established.
According to a police statement, which the Malaysian court deemed involuntary and, therefore, inadmissible, Sirul confessed to shooting Shaariibuu in the left side of her head.
But in an unsworn statement to the court, he said he was a “scapegoat to protect … those who were not in court”.
Baginda was charged with abetting the murder but never stood trial, a committal court finding he had no case to answer.
In 2013, Sirul’s conviction was overturned but when it was reinstated on appeal two years later, he was in Australia staying with relatives.
Days later, Sirul sent an SMS message seen by 101 East to a politically connected businessman in Malaysia, Abdul Salam Bin Ahmad, demanding millions of dollars.
“Greetings boss. I am in difficulties here. I want 2 million Australian dollars before boss [you] come to meet me. I need to guarantee the future of my child here, after that I want 15 million…. Australia. I will not return to Malaysia not ever boss. I won’t bring down the PM,” he wrote.
But Sirul now says the SMS was not his idea, claiming, “I had instructions from Mr Salam”. In his response, Salam wrote, “They will discuss”. According to Sirul, he was referring to Najib. “The point is to get some money or something from Najib,” he says.
Sirul claims to have been manipulated for political purposes ever since the murder.
Najib Razak was prime minister of Malaysia between 2009 to 2018 and is currently serving a 12-year sentence after being found guilty of corruption [Ahmad Luqman Ismail/EPA-EFE]
Paid for silence
In 2016, while in an Australian immigration detention centre, Sirul recorded and circulated a video absolving Najib of any involvement in Shaariibuu’s murder.
“Dato’ Seri Najib Razak was not involved and has no relevance to the case,” he said in the video.
Now, he claims, he wants to “tell the truth”.
“This is Australia. Anybody can talk, isn’t it?” he says. “I want to expose and [tell] the truth now.”
Sirul claims he received more than $200,000 to make the video. “My solicitor was offering me a lot of money,” he says.
“So they offered and gave me some money. I spent for my son, because I love my son. My son is going to grow up here … spend a lot of money, study here [in Australia], everything. And my daughter, as well.
“Until now, I have somebody [who] controls me. ‘Umar, you don’t talk. You keep silent’.”
He claims he is unaware who paid him the money, adding that he’d never paid his lawyers in Malaysia or Australia.
But he is clear about who he was supposed to protect with his silence.
“Honestly, I’m going to tell you specifically, to protect … prime minister at that time, Mr Najib.”
Sirul says he’s unsure exactly why the hush money was paid, but suggests what he could reveal about his conversations with Azilah would have had political consequences for Najib. Despite Najib’s denials of any involvement in the murder, widespread speculation linking him to Shaariibuu’s killing plagued his political career.
Sirul asserts that evidence presented to the court was all “planted”, denying any knowledge of Shaariibuu’s jewellery found in his jacket in his wardrobe and bloodstained slippers found in his car.
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