Suspected people smuggler remains in Swedish jail
Sydney Morning Herald
2 July 2003

A suspected people smuggler wanted by Australia for the drowning deaths of hundreds of asylum seekers two years ago will stay in jail until Sweden's Supreme Court decides whether to extradite him to Australia, court officials said.

The decision to keep Iraqi Khaleed Shnayf Daoed in jail pending the decision was made in a closed-door hearing yesterday by the district court of Sandviken, 225 km north-west of the capital, Stockholm.

Daoed was arrested in May after a request from the Australian government, which shares an extradition treaty with Sweden.

In its decision, the court said that Australia's request that Daoed remain in jail was "not evidently wrong," court spokeswoman Ulla Hall told The Associated Press.

She said that the court believed Daoed might flee Sweden if he was not kept in jail until his extradition hearing, yet to be scheduled.

Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison said Daoed and another suspected smuggler, Abu Quassey of Egypt, organised an overcrowded boat of asylum seekers that sank en route to Australia from Indonesia in October 2001. An estimated 374 people, mostly from Afghanistan and Iraq, drowned.

If convicted of smuggling charges in Australia, both men could be sentenced to 20 years in prison.

AP

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