KUALA LUMPUR: Convicted murderer Sirul Azhar Umar, appeared on camera for the first time after escaping the country for about nine years.
The former police officer who is a wanted man for killing Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu had just been released from immigration detention in Australia and recently gave an interview with Al Jazeera's 101 East programme.
In the 25-minute interview, Sirul, now 51, pleaded to the Australian community to be given a second chance, and to allow him to build a new life in the country.
He reiterated his stand that he doesn't want to return to Malaysia.
Unlike his accomplice, Azilah Hadri, Sirul has yet to apply for his death sentence to be reviewed.
The Review of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023 (Act 847) allows for prisoners currently serving the mandatory death sentence to have their sentence commuted to a jail term of not less than 30 years and not exceeding 40 years.
Many, however, were sceptical and believed that Sirul would not apply for the review, given that the death penalty is the sole reason Australia, which forbids the extradition of individuals on death row, did not return him to Malaysia.
Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla previously suggested that the Attorney-General's Chambers (A-GC) instead apply for the sentence review on behalf of Sirul on the grounds of preventing further evasion of punishment and upholding the rule of law.
Referring to it as the 'Mount Everest' of work, Haniff firmly believed that the effort committed to bring back Sirul is not just essential but an obligation.
"To me when we talk about law and justice, it is not about going the extra mile. It is not about wasting so much time, energy as well as money. Law is law, justice is justice.
"How are we going to satisfy ourselves, the people in law, that we allow a person to take advantage of the lacuna (gaps) in the law?
"How are we going to justify sending others to prison knowing there are those who can escape?
"So it is the duty of enforcement agencies to get back those who escape and serve the punishment," he told the New Straits Times.
Azilah and Sirul were found guilty of Altantuya's murder in 2006.
They were sentenced to the mandatory death sentence by the High Court in 2009 before it was overruled in the Court of Appeal in 2013.
Freed after seven years in prison, Sirul later took advantage to run to Australia in 2014.
The Federal Court in 2015, however, upheld the High Court conviction.