Cops confirm still trying to extradite Nur Sajat after arrest in Thailand
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 — The police announced today it is currently in the process of extraditing cosmetics entrepreneur Nur Sajat Kamaruzzaman from Thailand following her arrest by Thai authorities earlier this month.
Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Commissioner Datuk Seri Abd Jalil Hassan said both countries are bound by an extradition treaty which would enable the repatriation of wanted individuals or fugitives.
“This extradition application will be made at the earliest,” he said in a brief statement here.
“The police would like to advise the public to not speculate or cause any sorts of provocation that may jeopardise police investigations.
“The police would also like to urge the public to not disseminate inaccurate information regarding this issue that may lead to threats against public security,” he added.
It was previously reported that Nur Sajat was detained in a luxury condominium in Bangkok during an immigration raid and was subsequently detained at the Thai Immigration Headquarters’ Branch of Illegal Immigrants for offences related to immigration in the country.
The cosmetics entrepreneur is hounded by Islamic authorities over her gender identity, and is being sought by the authorities after she missed a Shariah Court hearing date in February this year concerning a case brought against her almost three years ago.
Her absence from proceedings then triggered a search party by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais), who had said they empowered 122 personnel and enforcement officers to find and arrest Nur Sajat.
On March 1, the police stated their readiness to assist in the search for Nur Sajat and were subsequently roped in to join the hunt upon a request by Jais.
The Shariah Court charge against Nur Sajat was made under Section 10(a) of the Shariah Crimes (State of Selangor) Enactment 1995 which provides for a sentence not exceeding RM5,000 or imprisonment not exceeding three years or both, if convicted.
Section 10 refers to the Shariah offence of insulting Islam or causing Islam to be insulted either by mocking or blaspheming the faith and its associated practices and rituals either in a written, pictorial or photographic form.
The charges were allegedly connected to a religious event that she organised in 2018 where she appeared in a baju kurung.
This comes as earlier today, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said that the police are clueless on the whereabouts of Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, the Muslim convert ex-husband of Hindu mother M. Indira Gandhi, who was once believed to have absconded to Thailand after kidnapping their youngest daughter, M. Prasana Diksa.
The police have previously insisted that extraditing Riduan would be complicated and time-consuming as it is outside the law, and are instead negotiating through a third party to persuade him to come home.
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