CONVICTED Malaysian killer Sirul Azhar Umar could be detained again after Australia’s parliament pushed through its preventive detention law, overturning a recent High Court ruling that indefinite immigration detention was illegal. 

The law, which was passed by the Senate, is designed to recapture a total of 148 non-citizens, some of whom are criminals, who were released last month after the High Court ruling. 

Sirul, who was convicted for murder in Malaysia, is among those who were released back into the community last month.  

According to reports in Australia, the latest law would enable the government to ask a court to return a former detainee to custody for up to three years if they were previously convicted of a violent or sexual crime punishable with a maximum sentence of at least seven years.   

The detention period, however, is not necessarily capped at three years. A court could issue a new order every three years and those subjected to the new orders would be held in prison rather than immigration detention. 

This can only be done if a judge agrees there is a high probability that the ex-detainee will commit another offence.  

In line with its laws, Canberra will not deport those facing the death sentence back to their countries of origin. 

Last month, the ruling party and the opposition teamed up to pass laws requiring former detainees to wear ankle bracelets and abide by strict curfews, regardless of whether they had criminal convictions. 

Sirul was fitted with an electronic monitoring device, helping the authorities to keep tabs on his whereabouts. 

Sirul fled to Australia after being sentenced to death for one of Malaysia’s most notorious crimes but had his asylum claim rejected in 2019, leading to his detention in Sydney. 

The Shah Alam High Court previously convicted him of killing pregnant model cum translator Altantuya Shaariibuu and blowing up her body with explosives.  

Altantuya was the lover of Abdul Razak Baginda, a political analyst and close associate of former prime minister Najib Razak. 

At the time of the murder, Sirul had been part of the police security detail for Najib, who was then defence minister. 

Also convicted with Sirul was Azilah Hadri, who is on death row in Malaysia. 

Sirul’s son had in May appealed to the Australian government to grant political asylum to his father. 

He said he feared his father would be assassinated if he returned to Malaysia. – December 6, 2023.