Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III AP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine government is studying the possibility of bringing Sultan Jamalul Kiram to Malaysia to face criminal charges, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said Thursday.
However, De Lima said the priority is for the Sultan to face possible charges that will be filed here for violating Philippine laws.
“We will study [the extradition] but our priority now is the filing of cases here. We have no extradition treaty with Malaysia but there might be some mechanism so that will be included in the study,” De Lima told reporters.
“In so far as Philippine laws are concerned, we have the primary jurisdiction. If they violated Malaysian laws, we will study that later…I suppose they also violated Malaysian laws, carrying firearms alone is already a violation of Malaysian laws,” she added.
The NBI, De Lima said, is already in the process of building an “air tight” case against the Sultan.
The Malaysian foreign minister earlier said the country is seeking extradition of the Sultan whose statements have incited anger and hatred.