Sri Lankan's death in detention in spotlight as Japan debates immigration bill

Developing esophagitis, Wishma saw a doctor and underwent an endoscopy at a hospital outside the immigration facility. On March 6, she became unresponsive and was rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead later in the day.

Her supporters said Wishma used a wheelchair and sometimes vomited when they met her at the immigration center. When they last met her on March 3, they said her eyes were hollowed, there was foam around her mouth and her fingers were stiff.

That's serious medical condition but they just refuse her to give her attention not until her condition went really bad?

They demanded that immigration authorities get her medical attention or grant her a provisional release, which she had been seeking but was denied in February.

And Japan wants to be called a developed country? Especially with these third world policies?

Oh Japan , be a little progressive and humane when dealing with foreigners. Why deny her proper medical attention and allow her to die?

Racist. Just plain, ordinary racism.

Letting her die, rather than allowing her to leave detention, then pretending they don't know what caused her death. They know they'll never be held responsible as long as no one really knows what happened. And since one poor female refugee in a wheelchair has no status, no money, and only a few supporters (also without status or money) they know they won't be forced to reveal anything.

I'm utterly ashamed that Japan isn't better than this.

pretending they don't know what caused her death.

Guilt needs to somehow reach their conscience and reform their ways of just following protocol.

This is a video clip of a Mainichi Nichi news story on a Sri Lankan man who is being subdued by five people putting him in a headlock and pinching his face or something at the immigration detention center.

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSJfh19av/

For the ruling party they don’t understand what people are upset about? For them she didn’t have to build a railway in a jungle. So basic medical denial is spoiling them. Unbelievable intrenched racism. I’m sure if a Japanese died in similar circumstances in another country all hell would break loose.

And Japan wants to be called a developed country? Especially with these third world policies?

No one who knows this country well would call it developed.

Oh Japan , be a little progressive and humane when dealing with foreigners. Why deny her proper medical attention and allow her to die?

Because that is Japan.

Guilt needs to somehow reach their conscience and reform their ways of just following protocol.

You need decency and compassion to have a conscience..

When you enter a country where the people are stone cold don't expect a warm welcome.

exactly

Unbelievable intrenched racism. I’m sure if a Japanese died in similar circumstances in another country all hell would break loose.

of course

Every year there are more deaths on the immigration premises.

Who's fault is that?

Are they gonna do anything so it doesn't happen ever again?

Imagine that! Japan is no better than North Korea!

The duty of developed countries is to help people in need not to torture them and treat them like cockroaches.

This country has no humanity and their coldness and racist is beyond my comprehension.

What a shame!

The revised immigration law will not worsen conditions for asylum seekers. The revision is only meant to deport illegal aliens to their home countries rather than keeping them in detention for months or even years. I feel sorry for the Sri Lankan lady, but she’d be alive and well now if she had followed the deportation order and returned to her country.

This is so horrible. I feel so bad for this woman and her family and the inhumane way in which she died. I imagine she must have been in so much pain for a long time.

This is not surprising as when a Government / ruling party does not care about its own citizens it would be logical to understand that the same Government would see non citizens (subjects) as less than human.

The revision is only meant to deport illegal aliens to their home countries

That defeats the concept of refugee.

If you don't have the empathy to understand their situation, at least try to imagine what would happen if North&South American countries had refused to give assylum to the millions of Japanese escaping from WW2.

@Meiyouwenti

That's the government's official excuse. The reality is, however, that under the current system, detainees can receive a provisional release and, if lucky, eventually a visa. For many, "following the deportation order," is not a viable option as it means a return to prosecution and/or away from their livelihoods and families. Saying that they should have done that means you don't really feel sorry for them.

Under the proposed system, detainees could either be deported or, if they refuse deportation, imprisoned, which would remove the state's formal obligation to deal with them as immigrants since they'd have a criminal record.

Pride comes before a fall.Japanese diplomacy at it's best.

They better pray to their divinities that a Japanese national does not fall into the wrong hands in a foreign country.

The world is watching.

In the words of one critic, Japan "likes to eat its cake and have it, too." This country is proud of being part of the exclusive club of developed, democratic nations, but treats unwanted foreigners (especially Asians and Africans with dark skins) as less than human.

for comparation, a immigration detention center in UK has social and sports activities, a pool, unlimited visits, right to have a smartphone and internet, etc.

meanwhile in Japan people die every year in detention.

This comment is probably going to get taken down along with yours but, if you do read this, can you tell us what you're trying to achieve here?

Simple. People on this site tend point the finger without thinking about what is happening in their own country.

How can they point the finger at Japan on this issues and many other issues, when their own country is not doing any better? They dont like me punching back and reminding them to look their own country and see the utter lack of logic ion their position. A famous man once said:

"He Who Is Without Sin Cast the First Stone"

I here to remind you and others to look at yourself first.

@Lamilly

my experience is the opposite.

i take empathy, best conditions, and impeccable treatment as guaranteed I'm every single gubernamental agency.

to read articles like this one makes me so sad.

I am always surprised how these kind of things can keep happening without any serious repercussions, most developed countries would consider this as a huge scandal.

She was a afraid of DV from her husband in Sri Lanka.

There is talk about having people like her stay in Japan if they can find someone to sponsor her.

I think a Nigerian woman was willing to do that, although she lives in Ibaraki and the Sri Lankan woman was in Nagoya.

The family stopped paying for her tuition, so that is where it started.

Disgraceful!!!

Its negligence at best, more probably deliberate criminal negligence .

Unfortunately we keep hearing about such cases every once in a while and nothing ever improves!!!

I here to remind you and others to look at yourself first.

How many of us here are responsible for immigration policy? Does "yourself" = "your country"?

 here to remind you and others to look at yourself first

You can give your reminder to some of your fellow right wingers of your country,certainly not to us and to me.

My country treat people and immigrants and even refugee with dignity and respect as every human deserves.

The only thing I truly feel ashamed of my country that fought WW2 with yours.

I know. The problem is the lack of medical attention that led to the death of a 33 year old.

Her visa expired and she refused to leave Japan, so she got put in detention.

Get put into detention in Japan and prison conditions or worse await...

She got a visa as a student but had the intention to work, didn't pay her school so ended up in detention. She could have returned to Sri Lanka but chose to stay in detention instead. A terrible tragedy that should have been avoided by better supervision. But also by her making better life choices.

Get put into detention in Japan and prison conditions or worse await...

Absolutely!

In fact, the restrictions and rules of the immigration detention centers are the same, word by word, as the Japanese prisons.

Lots of hospitals and family members in Sri Lanka. Why she’s here?

"Lots of hospitals and family members in Sri Lanka. Why she’s here?"

Because she was incarcerated by the the MoJ Ministry of Justice Immigration at the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau in Aichi Prefecture...

The moral of the story: "Obey Japanese laws and do not overstay your visa" . Had she been in her country (or had renewed her visa) she could've had prompt medical attention. It's sad she died, but in the end it was the result of her actions.

@El Rata

are you justifying her death?

do you think that she deserved to die?

@bokuda

Of course not, I'm just saying that if she had played by the book (like most of us non-Japanese born), there is a chance she could still be alive.

you're just making things worst.

so, you think that kill overstayers is just fine?

Previous and present PM of Japan pretend to values human rights or democracy at such as summit. 

But actually they continue to trample on even the lives of people.

And they stick to Olympics that will kill many people.

A psychiatrist who saw Wishma on March 4 had recommended she should be granted a provisional release, saying in a report to the Nagoya immigration center that her conditions could improve once she is released, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The sources also said the immigration authority suspected Wishma feigned illness to gain a provisional release and conveyed its view to the psychiatrist.

So when it's the word of a qualified psychiatrist veris the suspicions of a bureaucrat, the bureaucrat wins. Of course immigration bureaucrats in Japan come under Ministry of Justice jurisdiction. That speaks volumes.

"The revision is only meant to deport illegal aliens to their home countries

That defeats the concept of refugee."

She was NOT a refugee!

READ properly before attacking anything Japanese as always.

I agree that Japan should remove all undesirables, forcefully if necessary.

If you don't have the empathy to understand their situation, at least try to imagine what would happen if North&South American countries had refused to give assylum to the millions of Japanese escaping from WW2.

Millions of Japanese as asylum seeker to North/South America during WW2? Really?

Just fyi, The millions of Japanese you are referring to were contract laborers. They were NOT war refugees!

If you don't have the empathy to understand their situation, at least try to imagine what would happen if North&South American countries had refused to give assylum to the millions of Japanese escaping from WW2.

I agree that Japan should remove all undesirables, forcefully if necessary

so your think process is that the girl is an undesirable, and to kill people like her is justified.

ask yourself if you would deny medical attention to Amy other fellow human being. Would you?

Awful and yet another searing indictment of the detention laws and "facilities" here.

I agree that Japan should remove all undesirables, forcefully if necessary.

This woman was innocent, her only crime was to seek a better life.

It's those who support such negligence and disgusting treatment of human beings who are the real undesirables.

This woman was innocent, her only crime was to seek a better life.

Unfortunately, NOT. Illegal stay is a criminal act.

More you google about this, more you get puzzled. It's been reported that her family stopped remittance for her paying tuition to keep her student visa. She lost her visa status but rejected deportation order due to DV from her husband back home?, and yet her family ( two sisters) visited here to join her funeral and complaining the way Japan treated her.

@kennyG

this is so low of you.

blaming the victim.

Overstay is not a crime. just a fault.

Don't know the situation that let the family to stop sending the school fees. Cannot know if they had the money, or the girl got a work, or whatever happened between her and her family...

One thing that's for sure is that the family didn't want her daughter to die.

@kennyG

this is so low of you.

blaming the victim.

I am not. BUT unless you unintentionally overstay like you happen to forget the expiry date, which would be rare, it is not what is called a fault.

I am sure, she knew she had lost her visa status which turned her into illegal stay status especially she knew she rejected deportation.

overstay is a fault. only a fault. not comparable to a crime in any way.

in the 21st. century manny people goes to places and live in different countries.

what doesn't happen in the 21st. century is to be killed for an expiration date on a paper.

...only happens in This Is Japan.

overstay is a fault. only a fault. not comparable to a crime in any way.

Sorry.　It is a criminal act here in Japan. name any country which does no treat it as such

in the 21st. century manny people goes to places and live in different countries.

Sure all does so legally. I hope.

what doesn't happen in the 21st. century is to be killed for an expiration date on a paper.

Sorry. She was killed by Japan sounds too much

Wrong (again)

unfortunately, this happens all over the world. Your (and others) attempt to use this story as a attempt smear Japanese society is distasteful and an insult to those who dedicate their lives to this very issue.

...only happens in This Is Japan.

this black box is despicable.

immigration must disclose the evidence, tell the truth and take responsibility.

their hands are bloodstained.

And the sad thing is, her family probably wouldn't get a proper apology from the parties involved in her death. Or lack of involvment.

Refugee or "quasi-refuge" are terms that are more than often abused by foreigners in Japan who are out to milk the system.

Refugee or "quasi-refuge" are terms that are more than often abused by foreigners in Japan who are out to milk the system.

How is dying of neglect abusing the system?

Stop painting us as criminals and scroungers.

We are human.