Malaysia to extradite human trafficker to Australia
(ABC News) – Malaysia has announced plans to extradite to Australia an Iraqi businessman alleged to have masterminded a human trafficking ring.
The announcement was made during a visit to Canberra by Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.
It comes after Australia filed an extradition application for Sayed Omeid last September following his arrest in Malaysia.
Home minister Hishammuddin Hussein said cooperation between Malaysian and Australian law enforcement had led to last year’s arrest of Sayed, also known as Ibrahim Ahmed Ismael, state media reported.
“It involves sharing of information, training and equipment,” he said.
“This has resulted in several achievements, including the arrest of Sayed Omeid, an Iraqi suspected to be the mastermind behind a human trafficking syndicate.”
Aides to the minister confirmed the extradition process had begun but were unable to say when it would take place.
Human trafficking and terrorism were among the issues on Mr Najib’s agenda at his talks with Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
The two nations have agreed to set a one-year deadline to sign a free trade agreement and to try to boost what Malaysia sees as still small numbers of Australians studying in Malaysia.
But Mr Najib offered only lukewarm support to Australia’s proposal for a regional processing centre for asylum seekers, saying time was needed to study it.
“With respect to the processing centre, this is a regional initiative and I believe this will be discussed in Bali,” he said.
“We need a bit of time to study the Australian proposal but we will be as positive as we can.”
Ms Gillard has praised her Malaysian counterpart as representing moderate Islam.
But the head of the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement, Raja Petra Kamarudin, who is also holding political talks in Canberra, says Australia should publicly raise concern about human rights, religious repression and state-sanctioned racism with Mr Najib.
“I think Australia must also stress that while we do maintain good bilateral relations, we do have a good trade between the two countries… Australia still expresses concern about the state of affairs in Malaysia and would like to see an improvement,” he said.
