Sirul in last-ditch bid to get Aussie protection visa

PETALING JAYA: Fugitive police commando Sirul Azhar Umar, 46 (pix), has appealed to Australian authorities not to ­reject his application for a protection visa, saying he faces the "very real prospect" of execution if deported.
The Australian newspaper reported today that Sirul's lawyers made the appeal in response to a formal notice from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection that it was poised to refuse their client's application for a Complementary Protection Visa.
Sirul's application is set to be rejected because he had committed a "serious non-political crime" before entering Australia.
He was found him guilty and another former police commando, Azilah Hadri, guilty of the high-profile 2006 murder of Mongolian translator and mother of two Altantuya Shaaribuu, 28.
Sirul fled to Brisbane in 2014 as the Federal Court considered whether to reinstate his conviction, overturned on appeal, for her abduction and killing. He was arrested by Australian immigration authorities and sent to Villawood in Jan 2015, days after his conviction was reinstated.