The Supreme Court approved yesterday the extradition to Australia of convicted drug trafficker and notorious fugitive Tony Mokbel.

Mokbel’s lawyer Alexandros Lykourezos told reporters the court had approved the fugitive’s extradition to serve out a 12-year sentence and to stand trial on 15 charges including those related to murder.

An Australian court sentenced Mokbel, also known as “Fat Tony,” to 12 years’ jail for cocaine trafficking in 2006.

He fled shortly before the end of the trial, triggering an international manhunt that ended with his capture more than a year later, in June 2007, at a cafe in the southern Athens suburb of Glyfada.

Justice Minister Sotiris Hatzigakis must still approve the ruling and Mokbel’s defense team is considering an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.