Sweden police seek to deport Afghan teen

Swedish immigration officials want to reopen the deportation case of an Afghan teen getting psychiatric treatment, but say police won't turn it over. Representatives for the teen, identified only as Ali, said he was traumatized by his experiences in Italy, where he claims border guards beat him and he was sexually abused in a refugee camp, Swedish news agency TT reported Wednesday. The 15-year-old boy fled to Sweden from Italy and is being returned to Italy as stipulated in the European Union Dublin Regulation, which states that illegal immigrants must be deported to the country where they entered the European Union. "The police make their own assessment," Peter Noren, head of the Malmo border police, told Sveriges Radio. "There is nothing more peculiar about this case than any other case involving refugee children arriving alone to Sweden. And we won't be handing the case back to the Migration Board." Noren didn't reveal why police did not want to turn the matter over to the Swedish Migration Board as requested. Ali was admitted to a child and youth psychiatry facility in April soon after his Swedish residency application was denied. "When we got the rejection they phoned us from his accommodation. Then he had sewed up his mouth," Anette Cromwell, who represents the teen, told Sveriges Radio. "It was a terrible, symbolic action." The teen was arrested last week by Swedish border police, but was found to be mentally unstable, so he was returned to a psychiatric facility, TT said. The Migration Board then contacted border police about re-opening Ali's case.