Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Friday the controversial Indian Islamic preacher wanted in his India for his alleged terror-related activities and hate speech will not be sent back to his home country.
Zakir Naik, a radical preacher, left India in 2016 and moved to Malaysia, where he was granted permanent residency by the government, as per the reports.
However, as per the extradition treaty between both India and Malaysia, New Delhi asked for him to be extradited in January, according to media reports.
"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 latest reports.Â
"Maybe not now but eventually he will be arrested and brought to justice, he will not be spared," said Hansraj Ahir, MoS Home Affairs on Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad's statement that Zakir Naik will not be sent back to India.
India had asked for Naik to be sent back for allegedly encouraging youth to engage in terror related activities through his hate speeches, according to reports.
Naik has described the media reports as ‘totally baseless and false’, adding that he doesn’t have any plans to return to his home country India, unless he felt ‘safe from unfair prosecution’.
Naik was banned from entering Britain in 2010, after the Home Secretary cited ‘unacceptable behaviour’.
In 2008, Naik suggested that Al-Qaeda was not behind 9/11 attacks on 11 September, 2001, that killed almost 3,000 people.Â
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