Japan: Kurdish Asylum Seeker On Hun

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.etext.org>
Subject: Japan: Kurdish Asylum Seeker On Hunger Strike In Refugee Center

Turkish Kurd On Hunger Strike In Refugee Center

     TOKYO, Sept. 19 (Kyodo) - A Turkish Kurd is on a hunger
strike at a refugee center in Tokyo in protest at being detained
by immigration officials after he sought asylum, his lawyers said
Friday.
     The 29-year-old man, who has been detained in the Tokyo
Regional Immigration Bureau's refugee center in Kita Ward, went on
hunger strike Tuesday night because Japanese immigration officials
took him into custody without looking into his refugee
application, they said.
     The man applied for refugee status in September 1996, but had
not been interviewed by inspectors in charge of screening refugees
before he was detained July 30, they said.
     It is rare for those who have applied for refugee status to
be taken into custody, the lawyers said. The Tokyo Regional
Immigration Bureau withheld immediate comment on the case.
     The Kurd, who came to Japan in 1995, has been arrested in
Turkey three times on charges of cooperating with Kurdish
guerrilla members, and left the country before trial, the lawyers
said.
     The man is taking only water with sugar, and seems to be in
good health, said Masashi Ichikawa, a lawyer who saw him Thursday.
     The Japanese branch of Amnesty International, a human rights
organization, has requested the release of the man, saying
Japanese immigration authorities should not take into custody
those who have applied for asylum. If such people are taken into
custody, they will be at a disadvantage to prove themselves to be
refugees, the group said.

-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
http://www.ozgurluk.org                          
mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl

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