Malaysia deports police fugitive

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Human rights groups in Malaysia have expressed outrage over the hurried deportation of a fugitive former Cambodian police chief to his homeland.

Heng Pov, who had been convicted of murder in Cambodia in his absence, was spirited out of Malaysia while the courts were still hearing the case.

He had previously been ordered to return to Singapore from where he intended to fly to Europe.

Heng Pov was convicted of killing a judge in his native Cambodia in 2003.

The circumstances of Heng Pov's deportation were extraordinary.

Reversed decisions

Just six days ago, Malaysia's High Court ordered that he be returned to Singapore from where he had entered the country.

From there, he was expected to travel to Finland, which had offered him a visa.

But on Thursday morning, Malaysia's appeals court set aside the lower court's decision.

Lawyers for the former police chief, who have argued that he faces torture if returned to Cambodia, immediately appealed to the federal court, Malaysia's highest.

But within an hour, immigration officials had handed Heng Pov to the Cambodian authorities and the wanted man was flown out on a private plane.

When the federal court convened to consider the matter a mere 50 minutes later, Heng Pov was en route to Phnom Penh.

The judge heading the panel, Richard Malanjum, reprimanded state prosecutors handling the case.

Civil liberties activists and lawyers have accused the authorities of treating the courts with contempt.

Meanwhile, the police chief's wife has appealed to international human rights groups to help her husband.