'Smuggling boss' to fight Aust extradition
AAP
March 12, 2014, 10:48 am
Alleged people smuggling kingpin Sayed Abbas is set to fight his extradition to Australia. AAP
An alleged people smuggling kingpin will fight long and hard against a decision to grant his extradition to Australia, his lawyer says.
Sayed Abbas is accused of being a notorious people smuggler who has eluded Australian justice since 2009.
He is wanted on 27 charges including organising the passage of three boats intercepted en route to Christmas Island between 2009 and 2011.
But he is suspected of leading a syndicate behind many more journeys, including one that sent at least 200 asylum seekers to their deaths, when their boat sank in the Sunda Strait in December 2011.
Abbas denies the charges, claiming he is a victim of mistaken identity.
He has previously argued extradition should be rejected on humanitarian grounds, as he is a refugee, and claims he worked as a paid informant for the Australian Federal Police.
Australia last tried unsuccessfully to extradite him last year, when South Jakarta District Court found Indonesia's 1979 extradition law did not cover the crime of people-smuggling.
But he was re-arrested, the decision was reviewed and this week a panel of judges approved extradition, angering Abbas' lawyer Mohammad Mahdi, who says they will use every avenue of appeal.
"If ... they who didn't have grounds for appealing can do this and win, we'll definitely be using the same (avenues) as they did," he said.
The lawyer says he hasn't yet received the document granting the extradition, after which time he has seven days to launch a Supreme Court appeal.
If no appeal is received, the request can go to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for approval - but Mr Mahdi has flagged he will draw the case out beyond the president's term, which ends later this year.
"Believe me, there's still long time until the (extradition's) execution, even after SBY steps down," he said.
It's believed Abbas, an ethnic Hazara, even managed to stay in business while he was imprisoned in Jakarta, such was his reputation.
