The Malaysian Insight

MALAYSIA has yet to receive any request from India to extradite fugitive Islamic preacher Dr Zakir Naik, based on a letter from the Attorney-General’s Chambers to his lawyer.

The letter from the AGC’s Prosecution Department to lawyer Shaharudin Ali, dated November 21, requested Zakir’s representatives to refer to the Home Ministry’s Security and Public Order division for further explanation.

The AGC said the Home Ministry was the central authority for matters pertaining to extradition.

“For your information, we have not received any official extradition request from the Indian government involving your client Dr Zakir Naik,” the letter sighted by The Malaysian Insight said. 

Shaharudin told The Malaysian Insight today the letter by the AGC’s office was confirmation nothing has been received or heard from India regarding Zakir’s much talked about extradition. 

Last month, Shaharudin told The Malaysian Insight that he had written to the Attorney-General and Inspector-General of police, requesting he be informed of any new development from Wisma Putra or India regarding his client.

He said it was only right Zakir was given every opportunity to exhaust his rights in Malaysia before being sent to India.

It was reported India was finalising an official request to Malaysia to have Zakir extradited to face charges that he had “promoted enmity and hatred between different religious groups in India through public speeches and lectures”.

India’s counterterrorism agency was reported as having prepared charges against Zakir, while Indian authorities revoked his passport in July upon the recommendation of its National Investigation Agency.

Zakir was granted permanent resident status in Malaysia five years ago.

In his appeal to Interpol, Zakir wrote the Indian agencies were unfairly targeting him because he was a Muslim, adding all his speeches promoted peace and in no way advocated terror or jihad.

He said he had been delivering speeches on Islam over the past 25 years in several countries, where he was respected and welcomed.

He said Indian agencies, by banning his Islamic Research Foundation and preventing him from delivering speeches on Islam, were violating his freedom of expression.

On November 8, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Zakir would be deported if the Indian government requested his extradition.

Zahid also said the preacher had not flouted local laws, and had not committed any crime in Malaysia.

Zakir, a 52-year-old medical doctor, has stirred controversy with his recommendations for the death penalty for homosexuals and those who abandon Islam, according to media reports.

He is also said to be banned in the UK. – December 12, 2017.