TOKYO, Aug. 24 -- Former chess champion Bobby Fischer came one step closer to facing criminal charges in the United States after Japan's Justice Ministry on Tuesday rejected his request for asylum as a political refugee and issued an order to deport him.
Fischer's spokesman in Tokyo immediately issued a statement saying lawyers for the New York City-born chess legend had already filed an appeal. But the statement added that Fischer had been informed by Japanese officials that he is likely to face an imminent return to the United States.
Known for anti-American and anti-Semitic statements, Fischer is wanted in the United States for violating international sanctions against Yugoslavia in 1992 by playing a chess match there.
Fischer was detained by Japanese authorities on July 13 for traveling with an invalid U.S. passport. The noted eccentric has since made novel attempts to secure his freedom – including efforts to adopt German citizenship and claims that he has a Japanese wife. Fischer has claimed that the charges against him are politically motivated in part because he hailed the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks against the United States on a Philippine radio station.
