politics

Kishida reads letter from family of detained Sri Lankan woman who died

17 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© KYODO

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

17 Comments
Login to comment

Sue.

There are no words to excuse or exonerate this egregious behavior.

This young woman was held and treated without human regard, or compassion, no ‘words’ can change that fact; the government is responsible for her death.

9 ( +16 / -7 )

"Firmly accepted their feelings; urge the Justice Ministry to take necessary steps, blah blah blah" Huh, what does that exactly mean? The Justice Ministry is the problem, you're going to have them clean house by themselves? Kishida is really all about optics, this guy has a serious case of buzz word diarrhea.

2 ( +9 / -7 )

"Firmly accepting their feelings and urging."

Nothing will change until the penalties, monetary or carcereal, are enacted toward the government and business combine for abuses the same way they are toward the public.

And even more so given they are abusing their positions of influence and power.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

"firmly accepted their feelings."

Is that like "thoughts and prayers"?

7 ( +8 / -1 )

I will urge the Justice Ministry ...

There you go, another urge!!! This gov is so predictable.

4 ( +11 / -7 )

“lacked awareness of handling crises,”

You mean standing by while somebody is dying and begging for mercy?

9 ( +11 / -2 )

At the same time people were holding an Olympic with the theme of “Japanese omotenashi”

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Move on.

Nothing anybody can do.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

firmly accepted their feelings.

I will urge the Justice Ministry ...

I'm surprised we didn't get a "regrettable" in there as well.

Why is it so hard to find a Japanese politician who is willing to talk like a normal human being without all this posturing and jargon? Especially when we're talking about something so serious and horrible as this case here?

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday he has read a letter from the family of a Sri Lankan woman who died in Japan in March while being detained for overstaying her student visa, and "firmly accepted their feelings."

What in the name of Christmas does this even mean?!

"I will urge the Justice Ministry to take necessary steps to ensure that an incident like this will never happen again," Kishida told a House of Representatives session as he offered his condolences.

Again with the word, "urge". In Japan, this means no action will be taken until the entire issue has blown over and forgotten about. Then they'll be like, "ah yes, remember that case a decade ago? Let's set up a meeting to have a meeting to discuss what we can do to improve the issue."

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of her detention, a criminal act was committed here. If the poor woman had been Japanese and died in Sri Lankan immigration detention then the Japanese government would be kicking up all kinds of a fuss if no action was taken.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

33-year-olds don't just randomly die. Wishma complained of a stomachache before her death. Did she die of a ruptured appendix? Why does the public not yet know the cause of her death? Was an autopsy even performed?

There are way too many mysteries here. This shouldn't be. The media is not doing its job.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

An examination of the event in its entirety reveals a complex set of affairs ranging over a period of years.

The woman overstayed her student visa. Was offered an opportunity to return to Sri Lanka, which she accepted and then refused. She was attending a language school, not a university.

Whatever liability incurred by immigration, the entirety could have been avoided - simply blaming immigration with a blanket accusation of mistreatment of detainees, ignores the events that preceded her detainment. She remained illegally in the country for almost 18 months - before 'turning' herself in to immigration due to alleged abuse by her boyfriend. The case and its consequent outcome are complex and complicated and raise numerous questions about Immigration and Sandamali. After she turned herself in to immigration, she was placed on a waiting list for a return flight to Sri Lanka by Japanese Immigration officials and the Sri Lankan Embassy, along with providing financial assistance. She then changed her mind indicating she wished to remain in Japan. She had already been denied refugee status almost a year prior. What is of interest is that she was seeking refugee status, but her family members, who travel freely do not seem to reflect any need for such.

The Immigration Services Agency of Japan on Aug. 10 released its final investigative report into the death of Wishma Sandamali, who died at an immigration facility in Nagoya in March.

Sandamali came to Japan in June 2017 on a 15-month student visa. She attended a Japanese language school in Chiba Prefecture.

She stopped attending classes in May 2018, and the school expelled her the following month.

The report said she started working at a factory in Shizuoka Prefecture after April and filed an application for refugee status in September that same year.

But her application was denied in January 2019. Her stay in the country became illegal.

In August 2020, she turned herself in to a police station in the prefecture, saying that her lover drove her out and she had no place to go. She was arrested for overstaying her visa and was detained at a facility run by the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau.

She wanted to return to Sri Lanka, but she could not obtain a commercial flight, due to disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Immigration officials along with the Sri Lankan Embassy put her on a waiting list for a return flight and sought to financially help her to fly back to her home country.

But suddenly in mid-December, she changed her mind and said she wanted to remain in Japan.

Sandamali filed applications for provisional release twice. The first was rejected on Feb. 16 and the second was filed six days later.

A psychiatrist who saw Sandamali on March 4 wrote in a medical report that she would get well if she received provisional release status.

But it was not relayed to top officials of the Nagoya bureau.

Authorities considered granting it based on her deteriorating health and the increasing burden on detention officers to take care of her. They decided on March 5 to release her provisionally after her condition improved.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

As I have said before any persons who were directly in charge of Wishma's detention, care, and supervision should be held liable and tried for manslaughter under Japanese law. If they are found guilty they should be punished by imprisonment. Just because they are officials of the government should not excuse them for their responsibility to care for fellow human beings.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

"firmly accepted their feelings."

as opposed to...what?? rejecting their feelings??

"I will urge the Justice Ministry to take necessary steps to ensure that an incident like this will never happen again,"

and if they don't do anything after you urge then what?

More empty words and no action from another pathetic PM....

exactly

After hearing the parliamentary session, Wishma's sister Poornima, 27, who has been staying in Japan, told reporters that she was unconvinced by Kishida's remarks as the truth has yet to be clarified nine months after her sibling's death.

Of course she is unconvinced. and rightly so.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites