Transgender woman: Hong Kong customs officers behaved 'like animals' during body search

A war of words has broken out over claims by a transgender woman from South America that immigration and customs officers behaved "like animals'' during a body search and mocked her during a nine-hour ordeal at Chek Lap Kok airport.

Hong Kong officials strenuously deny the allegations and insist proper procedures were followed amid initial suspicions about her identity and the reason she arrived here from Taiwan.

The woman, who wants her name and nationality withheld for legal reasons, is now applying for asylum in the city. She fears that if she returns to the country of her birth she will be killed by bigots whose violent attacks she says forced her to leave.

Lawyers for the 25-year-old say her experience illustrates the levels of discrimination transgender people face as it emerged that at least two transgender women from Mongolia have been successfully re-located to a third country after gaining asylum in Hong Kong. Applications by two others, one the woman in the airport row and a Sri Lankan national, are being assessed.

The latest sanctuary bid comes as a direct result of the airport incident because it led Taiwan to block her return, sparking fears she would be deported back to her home country after being stabbed and shot at. Changes in her appearance due to hormone treatment prompted Taiwan to ask her to update her passport. The nearest consulate was in Hong Kong.

On her arrival in Hong Kong on September 16 she claims staff ridiculed her because she was dressed as a woman. She was refused entry because immigration officials could not verify her explanation about the passport with her country's consulate.