KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 — Malaysia must immediately bring back former police commando Sirul Azhar Umar from Australia so that he can face justice here over the 2006 murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu, her family said today.

Sangeet Kaur Deo, the lawyer for Altantuya’s family, said they want the attorney general (AG) to give an immediate update on the next steps to be taken to extradite Sirul from Australia back to Malaysia.

"The AG has no excuse for further delay.

"The AG is urged to act quickly and decisively in securing Sirul’s immediate return to face his sentence,” she said in a statement today.

Sangeet said this was in light of the recent changes to Malaysia’s laws that made the death penalty no longer mandatory for murder convictions.

She highlighted the Federal Court decision last week to reduce the death sentence of former police commando Azilah Hadri — who was also convicted of Altantuya’s murder — with 40 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane.

As part of his sentence review last week, Azilah submitted an additional affidavit that included his 2019 statutory declaration alleging he was acted on instructions from then deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the latter’s aide de camp, DSP Musa Safri to murder Altantuya. Najib has since denied those allegations.

Sangeet said the public prosecutor did not challenge or rebut Azilah’s claim, which requires clarification.

She said the AG as the guardian of the rule of law has a "duty to pursue every lead” in criminal investigations, and to impartially hold all individuals accountable regardless of their status, influence or affiliation.

Azilah had been on the death row for the past nine years after the Federal Court in 2015 restored the conviction and death sentence for both him and Sirul. Sirul did not show up in court on the day of the decision, and was later revealed to be in Australia.

Sirul has been in Australia for years, as Australia’s policy is that it cannot extradite or deport individuals if they will face death in that country.

With the legal amendments in Malaysia last year, murder convicts such as Azilah and Sirul were able to apply to the Federal Court to have their death sentences reduced or replaced with jail time and caning. The Malaysian government confirmed last year however that only Azilah had applied for this, and that Sirul had not filed such an application.