MALAGA, Spain (AFP) - The father of British brain tumour patient Ashya King said on Wednesday he was being prevented from visiting the five-year-old in hospital, despite the lifting of an extradition order against him and his wife.

"They won't let me see my child because I don't have custody of my child," Brett King told reporters upon arriving at a children's hospital in the southern resort of Malaga.

"They said now he is a ward of court," said Mr King, who was detained on Saturday with his wife for having taken Ashya out of a British hospital, before being released late on Tuesday.