STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedish authorities have ordered the expulsion of a Chinese journalist, accusing her of posing a serious threat to national security, a lawyer representing the woman said on Monday.
The 57-year-old Chinese woman has lived in the country for almost 20 years and denied all the accusations, lawyer Leutrim Kadriu told Reuters.
Kadriu did not name the woman or say whether she had already left. He said he could not go into details on the charges as they concerned national security and were officially confidential.
“The security police have argued that it can be assumed that my client may pose a serious security threat. This assessment has been agreed by the Migration Agency, the Migration Court and the government,” the lawyer said.
Sweden’s Justice Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Migration Agency declined to comment.
Public broadcaster SVT did not give details of the charges, but said without identifying its sources that the woman had published articles on her website and had received payments linked to the reporting from the Chinese embassy in Stockholm.
She had also hosted Chinese authorities and business delegations on visits to Sweden and sought to arrange meetings with Swedish officials, SVT said.
China’s embassy in Stockholm was not immediately available for comment.
SVT said the woman was detained in October and Sweden’s Migration Agency decided to expel her soon after, in a ruling later upheld by a migration court.
The government upheld the court’s decision last week, SVT added.
A Swedish Security Service spokesperson declined to comment on the specific case but added:
“The Security Services’ mission to protect Sweden and democracy includes preventing people who are not Swedish citizens – and who are deemed to pose a threat to Sweden’s security – from residing or establishing themselves in Sweden.”
Swedish security services said in February that China, as well as Russia and Iran, posed the biggest security risks to the country.
(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Greta Rosen Fondahn, editing by Terje Solsvik and Andrew Heavens)
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