Joran Van der Sloot's lawyer to file habeas corpus petition in attempt to stop transfer to USA

The transfer of Joran Van der Sloot to the USA was set to take place later this week

Maximo Altez, the lawyer for Joran van der Sloot tells Fox News Digital he will file a habeas corpus petition against the Peruvian government in an attempt to stop the transfer of his client to the United States.

The Dutch national is the prime suspect in the May 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba during a Mountain Brook High School, Alabama, senior trip.

According to Col. Carlos López Aeda, the chief of Interpol in Lima, Peru, van der Sloot was set to be temporarily transferred to the United States on Thursday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Altez told Fox News Digital "I am going to do It, we will try," regarding the habeas corpus petition.

NATALEE HOLLOWAY CASE: PERUVIAN INTERPOL CHIEF REVEALS HOW JORAN VAN DER SLOOT EXTRADITION WILL GO DOWN

It was announced Wednesday that Joran Van Der Sloot was set to be extradited from Peru. (Getty, AP Images)

Van der Sloot's lawyer did say, however, that he still expects his client will be transferred to the United States this week.

The Dutch national is facing charges of extortion and wire fraud in the United States after he allegedly tried to sell Beth Holloway, Natalee's mother, information regarding the location of her daughter's body. The Peruvian government ruled in early May that he would be temporarily transferred to the United States to face those charges, then returned to the United States when he's sentenced.

Federal prosecutors say van der Sloot asked for $250,000 — $25,000 up front for the information and the rest being paid out when the body of Natalee Holloway was positively identified.

However, van der Sloot lied to Beth Holloway's lawyer, John Q. Kelly, about where her daughter's remains were located, according to American prosecutors.

Joran Van der Sloot (L) is escorted by police officers on an airplane in Santiago June 4, 2010.  Van der Sloot, who was arrested twice over the disappearance of a U.S. student in Aruba in 2005, has been expelled from Chile and will be handed out to Peruvian authorities where he is a prime suspect in a new murder probe, according to local media reports.  (REUTERS/Danny Alveal (CHILE - Tags: CRIME LAW POLITICS))

The Dutch national is being held in a Peruvian prison for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in 2010. Van der Sloot was originally sentenced to 28 years in prison for the killing, but more time was added on because of a drug smuggling scandal he was involved in while in jail.

Col. Carlos López Aeda, the chief of Interpol in Lima, Peru told Fox News Digital on the evening of June 2 that officials will begin taking Van der Sloot from Challapalca Prison to a maximum security prison in Lima at midnight.

"[Van der Sloot] will leave [Challapalca] tonight and on Sunday morning he will be in Lima, ready for the transfer," López Aeda said.

JORAN VAN DER SLOOT CASE: NATALEE HOLLOWAY PRIME SUSPECT TO GO TO LIMA BEFORE TRANSFER TO US, SOURCE SAYS

Joran Van der Sloot (C) of the Netherlands is escorted by Peruvian police officers at the police headquarters in Lima June 5, 2010. Chile on Friday deported to Peru Van der Sloot who is wanted for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in Lima and has been linked to the 2005 disappearance of an American teenage girl in Aruba.       (REUTERS/Pilar Olivares )

López Aeda also said that van der Sloot is being held at the Ancón 1 Prison in Lima until he's transfer to the United States.

"He is already admitted to the Ancón 1 Prison in Lima awaiting his next transfer to the USA," López Aeda said.

JORAN VAN DER SLOOT HAS FANS 'ALL OVER THE WORLD' WHO SEND NATALEE HOLLOWAY SUSPECT HUNDREDS PER MONTH: LAWYER

Natalee Holloway was last seen alive in Aruba while on a Mountain Brook high school senior trip. (Federal Bureau of Investigation)

Natalee Holloway's body was never found. In January 2012, van der Sloot pleaded guilty to killing Flores, and Natalee Holloway was legally declared dead that month.

Natalee Holloway's mother, Beth, said in an earlier statement shared with Fox News Digital that the extradition gives a chance for justice to finally be served.

Beth Holloway, mother of Natalee Holloway, speaks during the opening of the Natalee Holloway Resource Center (NHRC) at the National Museum of Crime & Punishment in Washington, June 8, 2010. Natalee, 18, of Mountain Brook, Alabama, vanished while on a high school graduation trip to Dutch-owned Aruba, an island in the Caribbean in 2005. She never showed up for a flight home and her disappearance made international headlines. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

"I was blessed to have had Natalee in my life for 18 years, and as of this month, I have been without her for exactly 18 years. She would be 36 years old now," Beth Holloway said. "It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee," Beth Holloway said.