JAKARTA: An Indonesian court yesterday rejected a request for the extradition of an alleged people-smuggling “kingpin” to Australia, instead freeing the Afghan from detention.
The release of Sayeed Abbas is a major blow to Australia, which requested the extradition, as it tries to reduce the number of asylum seekers arriving on its territory by sea and dismantle people-smuggling networks that organise the boat journeys.
“The Afghan citizen Sayeed Abbas... cannot be extradited to Australia and we order his release from prison,” chief judge Pranoto, who goes by one name, told the South Jakarta District Court, adding the extradition request “has no legal foundation”.
“The crime he committed did not happen in the country that requested the extradition,” Pranoto said, adding that Indonesia’s 1979 extradition law did not cover the crime of people-smuggling.
Having served a 30-month jail term for breaking Indonesian immigration laws, Abbas will likely be deported to Afghanistan after being processed by immigration.
Abbas received the news with a wide smile, bringing both hands to his mouth in disbelief.
Abbas has lived in Indonesia for 11 years and is married to an Indonesian woman.
Australia has sought Abbas’ extradition since 2010 over organising several boats for asylum seekers to Australia, including one in 2011 that sank of the eastern Javanese coast and killed some 200 people on board.
Australian authorities have said they believe Abbas had continued to arrange boats for asylum seekers from his prison cell.
AFP
