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MALAYSIA-INDIA-DEPORTATION-ZAKIRNAIK-CRIME-POLITICS
Radical Indian preacher will not be deported: Malaysia PM
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, July 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad said Friday a controversial Indian Islamic preacher
allegedly wanted in his home country for terror-related activities and hate
speech will not be sent back.
Zakir Naik, a radical television preacher, reportedly left India in 2016
and subsequently moved to largely Muslim Malaysia, where he was granted
permanent residency.
According to Indian media reports, New Delhi asked for him to be extradited
in January. The two countries have an extradition treaty.
“As long as he is not creating any problem, we will not deport him because
he has been given permanent residency status,” Mahathir said at a news
conference in administrative capital Putrajaya outside Kuala Lumpur, when
asked about the reports.
The reports say India had asked for Naik to be sent back for allegedly
inciting youth to engage in terror activities via his hate speeches.
Naik, 52, has described the media reports as “totally baseless and false”,
adding that he has no plans to return to India until he felt “safe from
unfair prosecution”.
In 2010 Naik was reportedly barred from entering Britain after the Home
Secretary cited “numerous comments” which showed his “unacceptable
behaviour”.
In a July 2008 TV broadcast Naik suggested that Al-Qaeda was not
responsible for flying hijacked airliners into New York’s World Trade Center
on September 11, 2001, killing almost 3,000 people.
Neither Indian nor Malay officials have confirmed the extradition request
or the existence of any charges again Naik.
BSS/AFP/RY/13:55 hrs