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CONVICTED cocaine smuggler Tony Mokbel ruled out cutting any deals with Australian authorities if he loses his fight against extradition from Greece.

Mokbel, 41, will learn on March 18 whether the Supreme Court in Athens will force him to return to Melbourne, where he faces about 20 criminal charges including two of murder.

Media reports have suggested Mokbel is considering striking a deal with senior prosecutors in Victoria if Greece`s highest court decides to send him home.

"I wouldn`t give the satisfaction to anybody, if I know anything about anyone, you`ve got to die with pride. That`s life."

Mokbel`s lawyer, Alexandros Lykourezos, asked the judges to postpone today`s hearing for up to 45 days to allow Lebanese authorities to prepare a separate extradition request for Mokbel on drug smuggling charges.

Mokbel`s lawyers claim he will not receive a fair trial in Australia because of the publicity his case has generated.

They have called as a witness former Sydney lawyer Constantine Karageorge, who said he had represented several underworld figures in Australia and claimed Mokbel`s life would be in danger if he returned.

"My main aim in coming to this court was to show that Mr Mokbel could not get a fair trial in Australia," Mr Karageorge told AP.

Another of Mokbel`s lawyers, Yiannis Vlachos, confirmed his client was considering a further appeal to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights if the Supreme Court rules in favour of his extradition.

"But that is a separate process, and we will see whether we will follow it," Mr Vlachos told AP.

"The European Court can ask the Greek government to freeze the extradition process until a decision is taken."

Sitting one row in front of him was his girlfriend, Danielle McGuire, who arrived at the court with the couple`s baby daughter.

Mokbel was arrested in Athens in June last year after skipping bail in Melbourne in 2006 while on trial for drug smuggling.

Three Greek Appeals Court judges granted Australia`s request for Mokbel`s extradition in 2007 but his lawyers hoped the Supreme Court would overturn that ruling.

Mokbel`s legal team have argued Australia`s extradition order was invalid because former justice minister David Johnston signed the paperwork rather than the then attorney-general, Philip Ruddock.

The court will also have to consider whether he has to serve out a one-year sentence he was handed in September by another Athens court after being found guilty of holding a fake passport and driver`s licence.

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