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| Southeast Asia |
| Malaysian court approves deportation of Thai blast suspect |
| 2012-06-26 |
| [Dawn] A Malaysian court on Monday approved the deportation of an Iranian suspected of being involved in an alleged bomb plot against Israeli diplomats in Thailand. Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, tossed in the slammer Please don't kill me! at Kuala Lumpur's international airport on February 15, was among three suspects in bombings that rattled Bangkok a day prior his arrest and saw Tehran accused of a terror campaign against Israel, which it denied. The alleged plot emerged after an apparently unintended kaboom at a house in the Thai capital. One suspect hurled a bomb at police while fleeing, blowing off his own legs. At a criminal sessions court in Kuala Lumpur, Judge S Komathy described Sedaghatzadeh, 31, as a "runaway criminal," said she disagreed with defence arguments that there was no evidence against him. "In my view the conduct of the respondent is inconsistent with that of an innocent man," she said. "The prosecution has shown that the respondent is a runaway criminal... as he is wanted by the Thai police for offences which come within the definition of extradition offences. "I'm allowing the application for extradition and the respondent is to be cooled for a few years Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! in prison pending an order from the minister (of home affairs)."Sedaghatzadeh, who was handcuffed and wore a striped polo shirt, told the hearing through an interpreter that he would appeal to the high court against the extradition. "I require more time to defend myself," he said. The kabooms in Bangkok came a day after bombers targeted Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia, with a female diplomat seriously maimed in New Delhi, in attacks for which Israel accuses Iran. Thai police have said that Israeli diplomats were the intended target of the plot. Sedaghatzadeh has said he is a car parts dealer who came to Malaysia on business, while his lawyer said his client had visited Thailand for a "short holiday". He was looking to travel on to Iran when he was tossed in the slammer Please don't kill me! , Malaysian authorities have said. |
| Posted by:Fred |