Zakir Naik will not be deported: Mahathir

putrajaya — Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Friday that a controversial Indian preacher allegedly wanted in his home country for hate speech will not be sent back.

Zakir Naik, a television preacher, reportedly left India in 2016 and subsequently moved to Malaysia, where he was granted permanent residency.

According to Indian 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

As long as he is not creating any problem, we will not deport him because he has been given permanent residency status Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysian PM

for Naik to be sent back for allegedly inciting youth to engage in militant activities via his hate speeches.

Naik, 52, has described the media reports as “totally baseless and false”, adding that he has no plans to return to India until he felt “safe from unfair prosecution”.

In 2010 Naik was reportedly barred from entering Britain after the Home Secretary cited “numerous comments” which showed his “unacceptable behaviour”. —