An immigration judge on Wednesday granted asylum to a Chinese national who he said had a “well-founded fear” of persecution if sent back to China after exposing human rights abuses there. Guan Heng, 38, applied for asylum after arriving in the US illegally in 2021. During Wednesday’s hearing in Napanoch, New York, Guan was asked if his intention in filming the detention facilities and then releasing the video a few days before arriving in the US was to give him grounds to apply for asylum. A Chinese flag flies over an entrance to the inmate detention area at the Urumqi No 3 Detention Centre in Xinjiang in April 20211. Photo: AP“I sympathised with the Uygurs who were persecuted,” Guan, speaking by video link from the Broome County Correctional Facility, told the court through a translator.