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Family of dead Sri Lankan detainee demands apology from Japanese gov't

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Japan’s refugee acceptance rate is 1.2 per cent (47 out of 3,936 applications)

Yep, it is UNJUST.

If the laws weren't applied evenly, then sue the govt. Seems Japan is pretty consistent.

If the laws don't meet with your ideals, work to change them. My country has 10M+ uninvited illegal migrants. I wouldn't wish that on Japan. It is a failure of the lawmakers here to make the hard decisions. I'm not anti-immigrant at all. I just want the govt to control how many, and to ensure the selection process is fair (not necessarily just) for all the people wanting to relocate here.

The more J-govt allows, the more will come and disappear into society with the underground economy. This is bad for many reasons.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Just because you don't like the outcome, that doesn't mean it was unjust.

Japan’s refugee acceptance rate is 1.2 per cent (47 out of 3,936 applications)

Yep, it is UNJUST.

Not my words! That's what ISA, UN and Amnesty International are stating in public reports.

https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2021/10/27/japans-intensifying-refugee-debate/

Japan is not gonna look good on the G7 summit next month, where the refugees will be the main topic this year.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

You can see a lot of people parrot that view by implying the humane thing to do would have been to return her home, regardless of her wishes and circumstances. Because those don't batter.

Other courts looked at her immigration request and denied it. She already had her due process. Just because you don't like the outcome, that doesn't mean it was unjust. She should have been deported. The lack of payment for deportation isn't how you get people out of J-Detention centers for years.

If she chose to starve, that was her choice. I don't see how anyone else is responsible. It is like a 2 yr old holding their breath to get their way. Never deal with blackmailers.

I know what starvation looks like. My father died from starvation. He had aggressive cancer and decided to stop eating after all the surgeries and painful treatments. He lasted about 3 weeks. It was his choice. Really wish assisted suicide were legal here. He deserved to die quickly with little pain, but that was denied.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

@BT and bokuda

your comments are very much appreciated-thank you

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

The sister said "I want an overhaul of Japan's immigration system. I believe that Japan will change into a country that values human beings," she added. In other words her dead sister said I want to stay in Japan. Its all selfishness its about what they WANT instead of doing as THEY were told. She simply broke the law she overstayed her VISA. Simple you are a guest in a country you follow the laws of that country if not take the consequence of the laws and so called abuse. She complained of stomach aches the question is did she eat or refuse to eat!!!!! I have no sympathy for someone who does not follow laws which are used to service as control measures of the citizens. If you have a guest who comes into your home you expect them to leave. If they refuse to leave what do you do? Simple call the police!

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Apology is the very least her family deserve. A root and branch reform of the system that caused her unnecessary death would be even more appropriate.

If Japan is it's own sovereign nation which it claims to be, a Royal Commission would be established to look into reforming the system.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Apology is the very least her family deserve. A root and branch reform of the system that caused her unnecessary death would be even more appropriate.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

That's an interesting point.

He had to stand up against the J-gov to end the war.

May the Emperor stand up again to end this xenophobic boilerplate.

-10 ( +3 / -13 )

If the Japanese government will not apologise, and fight a case against this, then perhaps Japans Head of State (Naruhito) should apologise.

-7 ( +3 / -10 )

I don't agree with what happened, but someone else mentioned and I agree they are not going to win against the Japanese government on their lawsuits, it's regrettable.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

@kenjiG

I think I can see what you're trying to do here.

Are you trying to shift blame towards the "abominable human rights group" ?

You ain't see anything I am afraid. As you know what I post in the past threads about Wishma. I am very positive about the fact this case be taken to the court (including a criminal charge) rather than being swept under the rug.

I am all for squeezing out all pus related to immigration system to Japan.

I suspect these weird unidentified human rights groups are one of driving force to let those illegal stayers to abuse current ridiculous Japanese law especially about refugee application.

All pus. See ?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

@kenjiG

I think I can see what you're trying to do here.

Are you trying to shift blame towards the "abominable human rights group" ?

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

Activist groups are, usually, decentralized and don't have anything resembling an office. Their members are reluctant to disclose their details to avoid geting harassed by people with views like yours.

Yep. Whatever you say. It is natural to wonder what kind of conversation had taken place between them,

which is equally important as disclosing all the video footage.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

The nationalist and xenophobic government is the same one but with a different administration that implemented “morals” at school to brains wash their kids with “patriotism” and “nationalism”

The media and the sheeples people won’t care much about this issue because it’s just not touching their lives.

This shows again how backward is this country going compared to the rest or the civilized world.

Wishma’s memory demands justice.

But unless there is more media coverage of this without the government propaganda people will keep ignoring such tragic issue and for all the people that will be abused and suffer because of these racists.

Comm'on Her funeral was held at Tukiji Honganji where all those politicians from oppositions( which crashed the bill for overhauling the system) visit with more than 50 media crew. The media has been covering this case all over the place . Because some are not sheeple, they question about what exactly happened between her and weird people and why she had changed her mind since then rather than just bashing Japan and Immigration officers just like sheeple do.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

The nationalist and xenophobic government is the same one but with a different administration that implemented “morals” at school to brains wash their kids with “patriotism” and “nationalism”

The media and the sheeples people won’t care much about this issue because it’s just not touching their lives.

This shows again how backward is this country going compared to the rest or the civilized world.

Wishma’s memory demands justice.

But unless there is more media coverage of this without the government propaganda people will keep ignoring such tragic issue and for all the people that will be abused and suffer because of these racists.

-6 ( +4 / -10 )

The family's legal team has demanded the government release all security camera footage of Wishma's time in detention

We are paying the immigration cameras and tapes with our tax money.

Why can't we watch the tapes?

-6 ( +5 / -11 )

This is outrageous and should never have happened.

I am Japanese and this is shameful. Another example of the government and agency who are staffed with inept clueless people who cannot use common sense....because they have none. Probably could not find the manual on how to read the manual to take appropriate action. Muppets!!!

-6 ( +6 / -12 )

*matter - unfortunate typo

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Japan needs to become a sovereign country, act like a sovereign country and take responsibility for all within it's jurisdiction.

That is kind of the issue here. The J gov doesn't see non-Japanese people as under its jurisdiction, at least not more than it needs to to spare itself international condemnation. Non-Japanese people are there either to be merely tolerated or exploited, not to be looked after.

You can see a lot of people parrot that view by implying the humane thing to do would have been to return her home, regardless of her wishes and circumstances. Because those don't batter.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

Did they? ( have a meeting with her at the center when she was healthy).

Check START HP which provides their meeting records w Wishma if you're interested

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

They had been meeting her at the center when she was healthy. How come they didn't support her at that time to spare much less money for her returning plane ticket /hotel fare for the COVID quarantine and persuade her to return asap to get out of the center.

Did they? ( have a meeting with her at the center when she was healthy). The point is though, that Japan needs to become a sovereign country, act like a sovereign country and take responsibility for all within it's jurisdiction.

-11 ( +2 / -13 )

These human rights activists groups(START, BONDS, TRY) are weird. Unlike NPO, there HPs never disclose the members identifications, no telephone number, no main address. just one free mail address.

Activist groups are, usually, decentralized and don't have anything resembling an office. Their members are reluctant to disclose their details to avoid geting harassed by people with views like yours.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

These human rights activists groups(START, BONDS, TRY) are weird. Unlike NPO, there HPs never disclose the members identifications, no telephone number, no main address. just one free mail address.

No doubt these group(s) are financially supporting this law-suit(s) as it did her funeral at the place like Tsukiji Honganji.

They had been meeting her at the center when she was healthy. How come they didn't support her at that time to spare much less money for her returning plane ticket /hotel fare for the COVID quarantine and persuade her to return asap to get out of the center.

1 ( +7 / -6 )

What a waste of time .....

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Immigration ought to have two new requirements for employment: intelligence and decency.

Generally, the staff who work in Japans detention centres are low class, low calibre Japanese, and many are not decent. In fact the Ministry of Justice as a whole tends to employ very poorly educated people on the lower levels.

-7 ( +7 / -14 )

RIP. Sue the hell out of every entity involved. Opportunistic? Lmao. You don't know spit about what greases the wheels of justice.

1 ( +7 / -6 )

an abominable human rights group suggested to Wishma she had rights she did not have, and that's when she started to refuse deportation.

I'm not here to argue against anyone as I'm sure I won't convince anyone who already has an opinion on this.

However, whoever reads this needs to know that this is a typical example of gaslighting that puts blame on the victim and the few people who helped them.

Human rights activists work with lawyers and are mostly much better versed in the law and know the circumstances much better than any of us "experts" in comment sections such as this one. Hunger strikes have been an effective way to make demands in a situation where the detainee (or anyone demanding humane treatment) had very little leverage. This was proven around 2018-9. One of detainees died in that period but, again, whoever is blaming them only shows they have no interest in knowing why they decided to take such as drastic step to begin with.

-3 ( +6 / -9 )

The case will continue and the government will no doubt withhold evidence of wrongdoing and this news will make it all over the world and Japan’s reputation will be extremely sullied.

Is that going to benefit the Japanese people when it comes out that is how visitors to Japan are treated?

It does not look good….

-3 ( +10 / -13 )

Oh, did I mention this is exactly why most people WON'T GO to the police?

RIP

-9 ( +6 / -15 )

Good luck, how many decades did Korea wait ?

-6 ( +9 / -15 )

@theFuToday 09:20 am JST

Nobody thinks someone should die in detention, but I bet she was offered deportation multiple times and refused.

The hangup seems to be 1) getting her, her family or Sri Lanka, or anyone to foot the 200,000 yen for her plane ticket + COVID quarantine hotel stay and then 2) an abominable human rights group suggested to Wishma she had rights she did not have, and that's when she started to refuse deportation.

-2 ( +7 / -9 )

Instead of a call for actual change, this is just becoming a media circus and pointless online fight between nationalists (and more) vs people with some decency.

By the way, there has been a trend recently of releasing more and more detainees on provisional release, effectively making the "free", but with no means to support themselves as they don't have working visas. Very sneaky way of avoiding any responsibility while making sure the the same people's lives remain miserable.

0 ( +7 / -7 )

Good luck with that!

4 ( +8 / -4 )

Looking like a fight between J-govt vs NGO using her sister’s mouth.

1 ( +9 / -8 )

If she was fed, but chose not to eat, I have little sympathy. Japan doesn't have to accept immigrants that overstay their visas. People who break local laws shouldn't be allowed to be residents or to seek asylum.

If she wasn't fed and starved, that's 100% on Japan and they should apologize, hold everyone in the facility accountable, and pay the family.

Whether the family gets to see any videos is up to Japanese law. If the court reviews 100% of the video and finds she was fed daily, that changes lots of things.

If you've ever dealt with prisoners, you'll soon learn that they will lie about all sorts of things, including sickness. If her records show she started complaining and was provided care which found nothing wrong from licensed medical professionals, that changes how the next "I feel bad" will be received.

Nobody thinks someone should die in detention, but I bet she was offered deportation multiple times and refused.

5 ( +15 / -10 )

This apology will go on for the next 70 years just like the comfort women issue.

-5 ( +11 / -16 )

The morale of the story is keep you papers in order.

-2 ( +11 / -13 )

Nagoya immigration officers did not take proper care of her and let her die of sickness. Japan had better apologize them and compensate 156 million yen. it seems to me Japan has no-way-out situation.

-4 ( +13 / -17 )

Her family claims that the government refused to grant her provisional release despite her deteriorating health to pressure her to return to Sri Lanka

So she chose to stay in detention rather than return to Sri Lanka? Why? I've never been in detention or visited Sri Lanka but surely Sri Lanka has to be better than being locked up?

2 ( +16 / -14 )

This case like many others could have been solved fairly easy with an Apology and may be $$ for the damages, out of court, out of sight. But because of the lies and the Arrogance of some individuals the family and it's lawyers felt the need to seek justice not only for this lady but for all others like her whos cases are swept under the rug.

Japan's justice system is fair and well protected, and I believe the family will be served accordingly.

-7 ( +11 / -18 )

Immigration ought to have two new requirements for employment: intelligence and decency.

Perhaps it might just work; it certainly hasn’t been tried yet.

-2 ( +14 / -16 )

They just need to keep up the pressure- the thing the J-gov hates the most is negative publicity.

-6 ( +17 / -23 )

Maybe Japanese government should demand an apology from Wishma’s home country for refusing to repatriate its own citizens overstaying their visas. The Japanese Immigration law needs an overhaul to facilitate deportation of illegal aliens.

-6 ( +16 / -22 )

They demand too much. I am understand them for blaming the detention officials in charge on that facility for lack of oversight but blaming the government and demanding a apology ain't gonna happen.

-7 ( +13 / -20 )

The system is bent out of shape and needs a modernisation. But that’s not going to happen. It’s too much to ask.

3 ( +19 / -16 )

The family of Ratnayake Liyanage Wishma Sandamali, who alleges she was illegally detained and died due to a lack of necessary medical care, filed the lawsuit in March, seeking 156 million yen in damages.

She was LEGALLY detained for overstaying in Japan... Whether she suffered mistreatment in lockdown is another matter...

Looking for all that amount of money is pathetically opportunistic, they will never win against the Japanese government that demand, conform yourselves with apologies and continue your lives in peace..

-7 ( +17 / -24 )

"I want an overhaul of Japan's immigration system. I believe that Japan will change into a country that values human beings," she added.

Unfortunately, Japan doesn’t even value its own people and is exploiting millions in 2022.

With foreigners the ill treatment is escalated.

Dying in a cell without medical care and then the immigration authorities concealed camera footage and information about the death, including the autopsy?

And now the Japanese state wants to condone this chicanery by opposing the court action?

What an embarrassment!

An investigation by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan found that the immigration center staff "lacked awareness" on handling emergencies, although it could not determine the exact cause of her death.

Over the years, detainees have suffered lack of medication and medical treatment due to the inability to treat foreigners humanely.

How about criminal negligence being the cause of Wishma’s death?

-3 ( +21 / -24 )

There needs to be accountability and justice for Wishma and all other victims of Japanese immigration. Begin with an apology.

“Japan's hidden darkness: Deaths, inhumane treatment rife at immigration centers,” Mainichi Shimbun, 9 July 2019, https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190709/p2a/00m/0fe/012000c

1 ( +16 / -15 )

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