Software company founder John McAfee was hospitalized Thursday after being denied political asylum in Guatemala and his lawyers said they were making a last-ditch effort to keep him from being flown back to Belize for questioning about the killing of a fellow American expatriate. McAfee told The Associated Press that he had suffered chest pains overnight but didn't believe he had suffered a heart attack. A government doctor who examined him agreed, saying McAfee's heart rhythm and blood pressure were normal, and he appeared to be suffering from high stress.

McAfee was moved from an immigration centre to a police-run hospital Thursday afternoon 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. "Please email the President of Guatemala and beg him to allow the court system to proceed, to determine my status in Guatemala, and please support the political asylum that I am asking for," the post read.

McAfee's legal team said they were preparing to appeal the denial of asylum to the country's constitutional court, a process that could give McAfee perhaps another day or two in Guatemala. The court would have to issue a decision within 48 hours. McAfee also began complaining of chest pain, prompting authorities to prepare to move him from the immigration center where he had been held overnight. McAfee was sent to the centre after his arrest for illegally entering the country ended a bizarre weekslong journey as a self-styled fugitive with an active blog and constant contact with the press.

McAfee told the AP in an exclusive interview from inside his private room in the centre Thursday morning that was refusing to travel to a hospital because he had been using Chinese herbal medicine since suffering a heart attack in 1993. "Last night I had a little bit of pain, but I am fine this morning," he said. "I don't like western medicine ... if the people around me are kind and compassionate, that's all that matters in life. The people of Guatemala are very kind people, so I have no complaints."

A couple of hours later, an AP reporter returned to McAfee's room and found him changed into a suit but lying on the floor as he was examined by a doctor. Shortly after, he was moved to the police hospital.

Belizean police spokesman Raphael Martinez said officials expected McAfee to be flown back to the capital. Police hope to question him about the fatal shooting of Gregory Viant Faull, who was shot to death in early November on the Belize island where both men lived. There is no warrant for McAfee's arrest, so it is possible that his self-initiated flight from Belizean authority could end up with him free to roam the Caribbean island where he lived for years, often clashing with neighbors and authorities over allegations he kept aggressive dogs, weapons and drug paraphernalia on his property.

McAfee was updating his blog Thursday after being given a computer by the warden at the migration center in Guatemala City, a three-story building with mesh-covered windows and barbed-wire on the roof. He said US Embassy officials had said they couldn't help him with a request to be returned to the United States instead of Belize. McAfee said he had formally requested asylum in Guatemala because he fears for his safety because he has sensitive information about official corruption and refused to donate to local politicians.

Since refusing to turn himself in to authorities in Belize, the 67-year-old had been in hiding, blogging his movements and calling reporters, until reappearing in Guatemala to claim asylum. He has not said how he crossed the border into Guatemala.