Mcafee denied asylum in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY –Software company founder John McAfee was hospitalized Thursday after being denied political asylum in Guatemala and his lawyers were making a lastditch effort to keep him from being flown back to Belize for questioning about the killing of a fellow U.S. expatriate.

In an interview, McAfee said he suffered chest pains overnight Wednesday but didn’t believe he had a heart attack.

McAfee was moved from an immigration centre to a policerun hospital Thursday after Guatemalan authorities said McAfee’s request for asylum had been denied. They did not explain why.

Shortly after the decision was announced, McAfee issued a plea on his blog for the public to petition Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina to let him stay.

McAfee’s legal team said they were preparing to appeal the decision to the country’s constitutional court, a process that could give McAfee perhaps another day or two in Guatemala.

McAfee went on the run last month after officials tried to question him about the killing of Gregory Viant Faull, who was shot to death in early November.

There is no warrant for his arrest, so it is possible his flight from Belizean authority could end up with him free to roam the Caribbean island where he lived for years, often clashing with neighbours and authorities over allegations he kept aggressive dogs, weapons and drug paraphernalia on his property.

McAfee acknowledges that his dogs were bothersome and that Faull had complained about them, but denies killing Faull, whose home was a couple of houses down from McAfee’s compound.