KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 — Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said today Malaysia cannot apply to extradite Raja Petra Kamarudin from the United Kingdom because Putrajaya cannot state what offence the fugitive blogger has committed.
The former law minister suggested that the authorities have only been pretending to be looking for the Malaysia Today editor popularly known as RPK.
“Have they made an application to extradite? Chances are not because they could not state the offence that Petra had allegedly committed,” the PKR supreme council member told The Malaysian Insider.
“Petra did not escape the country because of any criminal conviction. Nor is he facing any exisiting charge. So why pretend to be looking for him?” Zaid (picture) added.
Raja Petra, who was facing a criminal defamation trial, was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal in November last year by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court after the police failed to serve warrant of arrest.
He was believed to have fled the country in May last year after he was charged with defaming Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, the wife of the prime minister.
He had allegedly published an article linking the murder of a Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu to her.
Earlier today, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein hinted that the British government has not agreed to extradite Raja Petra, adding that the Malaysian government’s hands were tied.
Hishammuddin told reporters in Parliament that both the Royal Malaysian Police and Wisma Putra had been continuously engaging with their counterparts from before, refuting claims that the authorities had been squatting on the issue.
Raja Petra was last seen at the Friends of Pakatan Rakyat (FoPR) event in London on Sunday, where he gave a speech before over 200 people.
Zaid, along with Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders Dr Tan Seng Giaw, Nurul Izzah Anwar and Dr Hatta Ramli, was also present at the event. The mainstream newspapers today splashed photographs of RPK with Zaid at the FoPR event.
Last week, independent Bayan Baru MP Datuk Seri Zahrain Hashim had called on the government to investigate the ties between Raja Petra and PR because of his meeting with Zaid.
Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin had also criticised the police for failing to take action against Raja Petra despite his frequent public appearances in London.
