Malaysian PM Mahathir no to deporting Zakir Naik

Putrajaya, July 7: Mahathir Mohammad, Prime Minister of Malaysia Friday said that the controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik will not be deported. Zakir Naik, who is wanted in India in connection with terror activities and hate speech, is currently staying in Malaysia.

Zakir Naik had left India in 2016 and preferred to stay in Muslim dominated Malaysia where he was granted permanent residency.

According to 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.

Zakir Naik termed media reports of his return as “totally baseless and false” and said that he had no plans to return to India until he fest “safe from unfair persecution”.

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-Qaida was not responsible for flying hijacked airliners into New York’s World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, killing almost 3,000 people.

According to the Times of India report, neither Indian nor Malaysian officials have confirmed the extradition request or the existence of any charges again Zakir Naik.