Former Guantánamo prisoner denied asylum in Sweden

In a blow to hopes that Sweden could be persuaded to lead the way in offering asylum to some of the 70 or so prisoners in Guantánamo who have been cleared for release but who cannot be returned to their home countries because of international treaties preventing the return of foreign nationals to countries where they face the risk of torture, the Swedish Migration Board has just turned down an asylum claim from Adel Abdul Hakim, a Chinese Uyghur who was held in Guantánamo for over four years.

Adel applied for asylum on November 20 last year, during a visit from Albania, where he had been living since he and four other cleared Uyghurs were sent there, to live in a UN refugee camp in the capital, Tirana, in May 2006. Albania was the only country that could be prevailed upon by the US administration to accept wrongly imprisoned men who could not be repatriated, but although life was better than in Guantánamo, Albania was not an adequate destination for the men. Although it is a Muslim country, no Uyghur community exists there, and the men had no opportunities to find work, and no hope of ever seeing their families again.

Last November, after NGOs and lawyers arranged a temporary visa for Adel, so that he could speak at a human rights conference and meet his sister and niece, who are both living in Sweden, Adel applied for asylum, reasonably confident that his apllication would be granted because Sweden fulfilled so many of the UN’s requirements for refugees that were not being met in Albania. According to the UNHCR Resettlement Handbook (2004), “resettlement as a durable solution must be accompanied by meaningful prospects for local integration, characterized in part by access to work that provides a living wage; education; fundamental medical (including necessary psychological) services; property; and family support or the support of a similarly situated refugee community.”

As a result, the Migration Board’s decision is a cruel blow. Although, technically, the Board is correct to assert that Adel “has a residence permit for Albania, where he does not risk deportation to China,” (as a Swedish paper, The Local, reported), the decision callously disregards the UN’s requirements, and condemns Adel to return to a country where, though safe, his quality of life is grossly inadequate.

“I thought I would be able to stay,” Adel said after the decision was announced. “I have clarified my reasons but got rejected.” His lawyer, Sten de Geer, also complained, reiterating that Albania will not permit Adel’s wife and three children to join him, calling the decision “an unparalleled scandal,” and adding, “This is a larger political question regarding developments in Guantánamo. There are 40-50 prisoners there who are clearly innocent and who may not be sent back to their home countries as they risk torture. But no other country wants to take them either, and that is why they remain there. Amongst them are 16 [actually 17] Uyghurs,” who, it should be noted, have also been cleared for release but cannot leave Guantánamo now that Albania’s largesse has dried up. Sten de Geer pointed out that the European Parliament has encouraged EU countries to grant asylum to prisoners like Adel, adding, poignantly, “Sweden has chosen not to be a leader in this case.”

Adel will, of course, appeal his decision, as Sten de Geer explained, and from Boston, Sabin Willett, who fought for years to secure Adel’s release from Guantánamo, sent me an even more inspiring message: “We have not yet begun to fight!”

Andy is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison.