Sweden tells Chinese asylum seeker to leave

Updated June 20, 2008 10:00:09

Uighur inmates held in US detention centre Guantanamo Bay. [Reuters]

Sweden has denied a Chinese national of Uighur ethnicity the right to remain on its soil, on grounds that he has refugee status in Albania.

Swedish immigration services say 33-year-old Adil Hakimjan was sent to the Balkan nation upon his release in May 2006 from Guantanamo Bay.

He spent four years at the US detention centre for foreign terrorism suspects before his innocence was recognised.

Swedish immigration services say the asylum authorisation in Albania means Mr Hakimjan has no need to stay in Sweden.

The services also said he lacked sufficient links with Sweden to enable him to settle.

Hakimjan's lawyer, however, says his client had no prospect of working in Albania, integrating into Albanian society or bringing his family over from China.

His lawyer says Mr Hakimjan risks torture if he is sent back to China because he is a member of the Muslim minority Uighur community.