An ex-policeman convicted of a notorious murder in Malaysia has been released from Australian immigration detention.
In 2006, Sirul Azhar Umar killed 28-year-old Altantuya Shaariibuu – a model and interpreter linked to ex-prime minister Najib Razak.
A former police officer and bodyguard to Malaysia’s elite, he fled to Australia in 2015 before the case could be concluded.
The case gripped Malaysia for years, with allegations of political interference.
For nearly nine years, Mr Sirul had been held by immigration officials after his asylum claim was rejected in 2019.
His release follows a landmark High Court ruling last week that outlawed indefinite immigration detention, leading to the unexpected release of dozens of asylum seekers, some of whom had been held on national security grounds.
The Australian government will not deport Mr Sirul to Malaysia under a long-standing policy of not extraditing people to countries where they face the death penalty.
Ms Shaariibuu, a Mongolian national, was found dead in a jungle on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur in 2006. She had been shot in the head and blown up with explosives.
Mr Sirul and another former police officer, Azilah Hadri, were convicted and sentenced to death for her death in 2009. Both appealed the verdict, but their sentences were eventually upheld in 2015.
The two belonged to an elite special unit in Malaysia tasked with protecting top lawmakers – including Mr Najib, who had previously been accused of interfering in the investigation into Ms Shaariibuu’s murder.
Mr Najib has repeatedly said he had nothing to do with her case and that he had never met Ms Shaariibuu.
Abdul Razak Baginda, a former associate of Mr Najib, was also arrested for being an accessory to murder, but the charges against him were eventually dropped. He later admitted to having had an affair with Ms Shaariibuu.
In a cryptic statement, Mr Sirul previously claimed that he was “a black sheep who must be sacrificed” in the case, sparking a flurry of political conspiracies.
Campaign groups have also claimed that Ms Shaariibuu was murdered to silence her about alleged bribes to senior Malaysian officials.
Earlier this year, Malaysia’s parliament voted to abolish the country’s mandatory death penalty. The country has had a moratorium on executions for five years.
Mr Sirul’s co-accused, Mr Azilah, is currently on death row.
