Support for admission to Junior High School - Night Classes

 A.P.F.S. supports the admission of children residing in Japan to Junior High School - Night Classes. On March 1, as a volunteer, I accompanied a 17-year-old man from Bangladesh to the Setagaya Misyuku Junior High School - Night Class to take an entrance interview. As a result of the interview test, admission from April 6th was admitted. 

He will be graduating from the school after taking classes in Japanese for one year and other subjects in the second year. After graduating, some will go on to High School. Some of Japanese who were unable to complete compulsory education and to fully study at Junior High School for some reason are studying at the night class.

I was deeply impressed by the kind and patient response of the teachers to him who could not fully understand Japanese. At the same time, I was impressed with Japan's education system. 

I am looking forward to seeing how much his Japanese level will improve in half a year and a year later. 

Today, I did the procedure of the provisional release at the Yokohama District Immigration Bureau

 As always, finding a guarantor for provisional release is a high hurdle for detainees. When we hear the guarantor, I think that Japanese people generally have a scary impression, such as being forced to take over their debts if they make a mistake. Another factor to avoid becoming guarantor is the need to submit private documents such as resident card, taxation certificate, and balance certificate to the Immigration Bureau. Moreover, the Yokohama District Immigration Bureau this time requires the submission of copy of the family register and resume in addition to the documents required for provisional release at the detention facilities at Shinagawa and Ushiku, so it is more difficult to ask for a guarantor to show the guarantor’s family relationship, educational background, and even work history to the immigration bureau.

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For the time being, I was able to complete today’s procedure without any problems. While looking sideways at the sea, I will return to the office in Itabashi, where the sky is narrow. 

Member is volunteering today

 It’s been a year since we updated our blog. 

Today, the member who has completed the provisional release renewal at the Immigration Bureau is volunteering at our office. 

It takes a lot of time and effort to send our newsletters for times a year. Most of volunteers are at home now because of the corona, so we are doing our best with only small number of staffs, but it takes longer than usual to send. 

A strong helper came today and we are really saved ♪ 

Appearing on the JafriQ Radio

 I have been on a radio program called JafriQ Radio once a month since last month.

Radio from run by persons from Ghana provides a variety of information from entertainment to news. It is heard mainly by Africans living in Japan and abroad.

Last month. I mainly talked about visa application procedure in Japan. We broadcast last week of this month, but we plan to talk about refugee application in two parts, next month. 

The broadcasting is available in three languages, Japanese, English and Ghana. It is very exciting (?), such as comments from listeners during the broadcast.

After hearing this broadcast, APFS office was contacted by South Africa the other day, and I felt that the impact was great. We hope that this radio will convey information about status of residence in Japan, which is difficult to understand, to those who require it.

If you are interested in this, please take a look here !　https://www.jafriqradioonline.com/

Reporting from Suraj's members of the attorney team

After the result of the Suraj's supreme court, the attoreny members issued the report below regarding this lawsuit.  

Reporting on the result of the lawsuit for state compensation

To whom it may concern,

With regard to the lawsuit demanding state compensation for the death of Mr. Suraj occurred during state funded deportation, we made an appeal on February 1, 2016 to the Supreme Court, as well as a request for the acceptance of the case. Unfortunately, on November 9^th, at the 2nd Small Court of the Supreme Court, we were given the decisions that the appeal had been rejected and the request for the acceptance of the appeal had not been accepted, hence as a result, it was established that the plaintiff had ultimately lost the case. There was no substantial mentioning of the reasons for the decision, only the following were stated: “In a civil law case, a Supreme Court appeal is permitted only in case of provisions provided in the Civil Suit Act Article 312 Section 1 and 2, so given the fact that the reason for appeal in this case is stated as unconstitutionality, the argument itself is actually concerned only with factual errors and mere violation of legislation, hence it clearly does not fall under the above provisions.” and “In accordance with the reason for objection in this case, the need for acceptance of this case is not recognized according to the Civil Suit Act Article 1 Section 1”.

Without showing any resistance, Mr. Suraj was surrounded and carried on the plane by several immigration officers who used legally unregulated tools such as gags, leg cuffs, and zip ties. He was strongly forced into a forward leaning position which lead to the worst outcome, namely his death. Yet, in the end, the judiciary has not recognized the state’s responsibility. Extensive restraints and pressure was applied to him that lead to his death, still the unlikely decision has been legally established that the sole reason was a disease he already had. We, the members of the attorney team are deeply outraged by this outcome of injustice. Moreover, if we think that this result has been reached approximately six and a half years after Mr. Suraj’s death, about five years after filing the suit for state compensation, we do not even know how to describe the sorrow that we feel towards Mr. Suraj and his family. While such actions led to the unthinkable outcome of one person losing his life during deportation, under the current situation, it is still difficult to say that any more considerations are given in practice of immigration control system to detainees’ and deportees’ human rights than before. Regarding the administration of immigration control, it would be extremely necessary to make considerations that human rights do not get violated and that mechanism are put in place that make it possible to constantly monitor the legality and validity of implementation by video recording of the full deportation process, especially if we think of the enormous effects that it can have on the deportee’s life, body, and freedom.

While the members of the attorney team express their appreciation to everyone who has been giving us tremendous support, we also would like to aim for the eradication of human rights abuse from immigration control administration, hopefully with continuous cooperation from you.

Members of the attorney team

message from Suraj's widow

Dear Supporters,

Thank you for your continued concern with regard to the incident of Abubakar Awudu Suraj.

On November 9^th the High Court, under judge Hiroyuki Kanno, rejected the appeal of Suraj’s mother against the overturning of the ruling of Tokyo District Court by the Tokyo High Court.

It has been more than 6 years since my husband died. The trial has made me face the reality of his death and on numerous occasions I have felt close to losing my strength to carry on.

But despite this I was able to receive courage to carry on from all of those who came to give their support by observing the court case and the sharing of your kind words. I would not have been able to have continued upon this long path without you and am deeply grateful to you all.

While my husband can not be brought back to us, in order to prevent his death from being in vain, I have taken this route in order to stop such death from happening once again. Despite your kind support we have not achieved the desired result and this is sorely disappointing.

We have fought together for justice, but at the decision of the supreme court it has been judged that a re-trial is not necessary to deal with the significant issues left behind by this case. This has left me in much pain and uncertainty.

Even though the result is bitter we have through the process identified many details of the incident, the video tape of Suraj's forced return has been screened in court and we have been able to see the 6 immigration officers, and this has been most important to me and his relatives. Due to all of your support we were able to ascertain the relation between the immigration officers’ forceful handling of my husband and his death, and the fact that we won in the district court has allowed us to make some small impression upon the Ministry of Justice and the Immigration Bureau.

In order to prevent such sacrifice of life in the future I believe that those responsible for this incident, the Ministry of Justice and the Immigration Bureau must never forget my husband’s death. This wound will never heal for the rest of my life, but I hope to continue work towards Suraj’s hope, as expressed in his words “I want to help everyone”, and in aid of this I would be grateful if you would continue to speak of this incident for long into the future.

I am truly grateful for all of your warm support over this long period. I thank you from my heart. And I hope you continue to recall Abubakar Awudu Suraj for a moment now and then.

Please take good care of yourselves.

Yours sincerely

Suraj’s Widow

Report for 17th Bangladesh Boishakhi mela and Curry Festival 2016

17th Bangladesh boishakhi mela and curry festival was held on 17th, April, in Ikebukuro Nishiguchi Park. Although it was raining in the morning, fifteen Bangladesh curry booths as well as many other booths, like for Bangladesh traditional clothes and accessories, were there. 

In addition, some performers sang and danced Bangladesh traditional New Year’s songs on the stage at the center of the park. In this event, APFS held a free consultation space for those foreigners, having problems, such as for their visa, education, and job search. As a result, many foreigners visited us and consulted their problems. Three volunteers, including me Igarashi, joined this as flyer distributors. I am really glad to have this chance to talk to Bangladeshi, whom I do not know much about. I was amazed how cheerful and polite they are as well as their fluent Japanese skills. At the same time, however, I also felt strong necessity of help for those foreigners after hearing their concerns. Power from one person is little, but it would become bigger if everyone gets together. If you could not come to the festival this time, please join next year. Your world will be widened.

The lawsuit of Mr. Suraj’s case: Appealed to the Supreme Court

We appealed to the Supreme Court against the sentence by the High Court on February 1, which was the deadline of its procedure.

In the name of Suraj’s mother, we claimed on national compensation 2,500,000 Yen, which was admitted by the first trial. We have a message from Mr. Suraj’s wife to everyone who is interested in this case.

“Dear Supporters for Suraj’s case,

As Suraj’s wife, I would like to express my deep appreciation for your help.

Thanks to all of you, we can appeal and continue the lawsuit in the name of his mother on behalf of the bereaved family

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

 

Suraj’s wife”

 

The next trial will be conducted in the Supreme Court.

It would be nice if you could have an interest in this case continuously.

Thank you for your cooperation.

“It was not acceptable and understandable.”

Last time, we reported the judgment of the state compensation suit for Mr. Suraj’s in Tokyo High Court in short. This time, we want to tell you about things after the judgment.

We held a press conference at the Judicial Press Club in the Court (Take a look at a photo above), and a lot of media attended. Most of them asked Mr. Suraj’s wife about comment on the judgment, which made her at a loss for words. After the conference, we also held a briefing session in the same building. What impressed us deeply was that many supporters and spectators had been waiting for us until we appeared although over one hour had passed after the judgment (Take a look at a photo below). Mr. Kodama, a lawyer in the defense team, gave his impression of how difficult it was to fight against the country. At the last of the session, Mr. Suraj’s wife managed to comment about the judgment. “It was totally unacceptable, and I still cannot understand the meaning of it and current situation.”

Judgment was rendered at the state compensation suit for Mr. Suraj’s case in High Court

The judgment was rendered at the state compensation suit for Mr. Suraj’s in Tokyo High Court on January 18, 2016. This time, admission tickets were distributed and the public gallery was full.

The chief judge gave judgment that the original judgment should be reversed and the claim by the plaintiff at the first trial should be dismissed.

The reasons for the judgment were as follows:

At the process of Mr. Suraj’s death, he had already fainted before his body was forced to bend forward, which fact the plaintiff saw as a problem.

As for the cause of his death, there are no clear findings that imply suffocation, and on the contrary, the CTAVN had become significantly big in Mr. Suraj’s heart, which must have affected his health. As the diagnosis the six doctors (who were appointed by the defendant) gave, the cause of death was fatal arrhythmia caused by the CTAVN.

As for the illegality against the State Redress Law, the restraining acts by the officials were reasonable, and even if the stress given by the restraining acts caused the CTAVN disorders, the officials couldn’t have predicted it. Therefore, the restraining act was not illegal.

As regards the responsibility for the emergency treatment, a death by the CTAVN cannot be saved by AEDs, so even if the officials neglected the responsibility, there have been no casual relations with Mr. Suraj’s death.

As mentioned above, the rulings we have won in the District Court were all reversed, and based on the written documents by the famous doctors who were requested by the state regardless to expense (some of them didn’t even know the name of CTAVN exactly), the High Court judged that Mr. Suraj had already died before the officials restrained him for a rare disease called CTAVN, and it was impossible for the officials to predict it and it was also difficult to save his life, so they have no fault.

Protests from the public gallery were heard even after the court was dismissed, like: “We didn’t come here to hear such judgment!”, “I can’t believe such a judgment!”, “What an inhuman judgment!”

The above was just a quick report.

Important notice about Mr.Suraj's lawsuit

Thank you for your interests in Mr. Suraj's lawsuit. On Monday, January 18, the appeal court decision will be held. Pleaes Come to Court as an Observer to Support the Lawsuit.


This time, admission ticket is required to come into the court. Please make sure to come to the 2 nd distributing point at the main entrance of Tokyo high court to join the lottery by 2:40pm.

After the court, we will have a meeting to have a repoort by the plaintiff's lawyers. Please attend it as well as court.


Please invite your family and friends to be observers and lend us a hand!!!



High Court Judgment day 　＊only in Japanese

Day and time：Monday, January 18, 2016 3pm~

Place：Tokyo High Court, Court Room#825

ASIAN PEOPLE'S FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY (APFS)

Tel:03-3964-8739

E-mail:apfs-1987@nifty.com

We held APFS HOME PARTY!! (Voice from a volunteer)

On May 25th 2014, we held APFS HOME PARTY for our related people who are consulted and supporters for them.

We gathered 30 people who have various nationalities such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Philippines. About 5 members of staff also joined the events. One of the participants from Philippines cooked the meals for us and we enjoyed it. This party will be held at least once within two month for the communicating space between members, staffs and volunteers. During the party, we gave our self-introductions and we talked about “hope” individually.

What did this party give the participants? I thought this was a networking opportunity for participants. They are really busy because some manage their own restaurants and others engage in the building construction industry. One of the participants said that he does not take a leave even a day in a week. Our related people cannot meet usually. This party gives the happiness to share the present situation for each. They talked their lives. I could talk with them and learned about their countries and how they live in Japan.

I participated in APFS’s event for the first time today. It was nice that I could see the face of participants whom I will engage with. They are just one of them who are supported by APFS. I don’t know about them and their situation in Japan so I would like to know about them more through volunteering in APFS.

The conclusion of a trial for state compensation regarding Mr. Suraj’s case

After the opinion statements by Mr. Suraj’s wife, the plaintiff’s legal team claimed. First, the team argued the fact progress taken for the past 4 years and confirmation of illegality based on what really happened when incident occurred on March 22, 2010.

 

After the incident, there had been no explanations provided by the state to the survivors.

Despite of taking evidence preservation process, the state refused to disclose various evidences behind.

The video capturing the scene of the incident, which was finally disclosed, was stopped recording right after Mr. Suraj and officers entered an aircraft.

 

Many cruel facts were finally come out through questioning the immigration officers on these state attitudes of concealing the truths mentioned above at the trail for state compensation.

-Using unauthorized items such as towels or cable tie.

-Forcing him to bend as coercive pose which was unnecessary.

-The testimony by officers that Mr. Suraj resisted was a lie.

 

 After that, the team argued the casual relationship between the death of Mr. Suraj and illegal acts of immigration officers and also stated how irrational the defendant statement was; Mr. Suraj’s heart stopped, which is related to his heart tumor, at the very moment when he was forced to bend.

 Also, there had been no scientific evidence provided, rather the state argued only based on doctor’s testimonies.

 Taking these into consideration, the team stated that it is very clear that Mr. Suraj death was caused by the coercive acts by officers.

 

The trail was ended in about 40 minutes, and after that we moved to another place for report. The report included explanations about closing arguments and withdrawing of 9 immigration officers as defendant. After that, there were many questions given by the participants which we could feel their passions toward the next judgment.

 

A Volunteer Opinion (Ms. Taniguchi)

Hello. My name is Taniguchi. I joined APFS as a volunteer in July 2013. It was in June 2011 when I knew the existence of APFS. When I visited the office as a part of the class of the university, I was impressed to hear the story of a Bangladeshi man. He talked eagerly about Japan at that time, so I felt he thought of Japan more than us. I still remember the day.

We Japanese, how do we face the presence of "foreigners"? Through the activities in APFS and things that are treated as foreign "problem" in Japan, I feel Japanese may see them as "others", and the tendency is strong.

But "foreigners" cannot be viewed in a monolithic way. People who come to the office of APFS are also very diverse. I was stimulated to see the state of foreign people suffering from troubles actually in Japan---which is said to be "tough on foreigners". And I wonder what is “the multicultural society” everyday.

How do we “Japanese”, as a majority in Japan, face with them? And how can we make it possible to live with them in the real sense of "coexistence"?

I continue to think about these question through the activities in APFS.

The conclusion of a trial for state compensation regarding Mr. Suraj’s case

On Monday, February 3^rd, the trail for state compensation of Mr. Suraj’s case came to conclusion.

On that day, the seats for the observers were fully occupied and around 20 people wishing to attend even had to stay in a waiting room.

Although it was the closing arguments, there were only arguments given by the plaintiff and no arguments by the defendant made.

The trail began with the final opinion statements by wife as a plaintiff.

Some observers could not stop crying while hearing the wife's statements filled with a lot of memories with Mr. Suraj: a moment of drawing some illustrations, an episode at his favorite noodle restaurant, conversations between the two as they often took a walk to a park during the spring season.

At the beginning of the trail, the wife stated “Ever since I lost where my heart belongs to, my time has stopped.” Through her statement, we all could not help expressing a wish that a better and fair judgment would be made to help the wife move forward.

(The information about opinion statements and report by the legal team will be shared shortly.)

Dante-san, endeavoring to support for Tohoku reconstruction, was re-detained.

On January 20, 2014, Dante-san was re-detained by Tokyo immigration office.

 He turned himself in to immigration officials because he thought it was not good to stay as illegal.

 Although he filed a court after the application for special permission for residence was not accepted, the case went against him.

 The point that there is no reason to grant him a provisional release any more since he lost a case was what the immigration office claimed.

 

 Although he did not have any family in Japan, Dante-san strongly wanted to live in Japan by making use of his skills in construction experience and Japanese which he acquired through over 20 years of living in Japan.

 

 He took part in “Volunteer activities for Tohoku reconstruction support” organized by APFS in Rikuzentakata, Iwate (May, 2011) and Izu Islands (Nov, 2013) twice before.

 Dante-san had a big proportion and was such a gentle man with few words.

 He did great in Tohoku volunteer as he had a powerful strength more than anyone.

We asked him a reason of participation in Tohoku support, his answer “I would like to do my best for Japan as my second country” has still been standed out in our memory.

 

Although we visited him after his detention and gave him some information on cases of provisional release granted after the re-detention, Dante-san made his decision to go back his country. He said “I might be able to endure this situation if I had a child, but cannot endure this by myself.” But he also mumbled “I want to stay here if possible”, which we felt that we could not stand remaining there.

 

In preparation for Tokyo Olympic, the government is setting a policy to accept construction workers from overseas with a time limit.
 However, will workers work as the government is expecting?
 We feel our deep resentment and think that why Japan cannot such workers with considerable experiences in construction and Japanese skills like Dante-san before accepting new workers from overseas.

 

We all cannot help but wishing that there will be good things for him.

12th court hearing Held in Mr. Suraj’s Trial

 The 12^th court hearing of the state compensation trial was opened on October 23^rd (Wed) from 10 am. In the morning, a specialist MD was invited to testify about the heart disease (cystic tumor of the atrioventricular node; referred to as CTAVN below) claimed to be Mr. Suraj’s cause of death. From the afternoon, the examination of the doctor who identified Mr. Suraj’s cause of death, and later on that of the plaintiff, namely of Mr. Suraj’s wife were held.

 The focus this time was on the testimony by Dr. Ikeda who identified Mr. Suraj’s previously unknown cause of death as CTAVN in a second autopsy report two years later; that is, as a disease Mr. Suraj was supposed to have already been suffering from.

Dr. Ikeda claimed right from the beginning that CTAVN is 100% sure to be the cause of death. He said that to come to a conclusion of death by suffocation, one necessary premise would be to clearly exclude other possible causes of death; so since now another cause of death (CTAVN) can be found, it cannot be death by suffocation. However, when he was asked how he could conclude that merely having CTAVN = (equals) CTAVN as the cause of death while there are reported cases where people lived for some 90 years with CTAVN, he only said “that is because he is dead”; an answer that completely lacked convincing content even for us medical laymen.

Also, he even made rude statements such as “he had CTAVN so there is no need to consider other causes of death” or “the fact that he died then and there was a matter of his life expectancy”, thus inviting harsh criticism from the observer seats.

Based on such statements of Dr. Ikeda, further suspicion concerning Mr. Suraj’s cause of death was strengthened and shared by the observers.

Later, in her testimony, Mr. Suraj’s wife managed to deliver the most important messages she wanted to communicate to the chief judge, such as “(based on the content of the previous testimonies by the immigration officers) I feel that my husband was not handled as a human being” and “I hope that I am the last one who has to withstand such hardship”.

After the trial in a meeting, the legal team reported that they managed to get the statements they were expecting from these testimonies. Also, those who were present confirmed their determination to each other to carry on fighting with the closing argument in sight.

The next hearing will be the closing arguments on February 3^rd (Mon) 2014 from 3 pm in Court Room No. 705 (venue may be open to change).

Please invite people around you and come as observers to support us at the final hearing.

 (Photo: the legal team at the meeting)

The forced deportation of the 75 undocumented Filipinos completely ignored Suraj’s case

On Saturday July 6^th 2013, the Justice Ministry of Japan and the Immigration Bureau deported 75 undocumented Filipinos through a chartered flight. As you may know, Ghanaian citizen Abubakar Awudu Suraj, whom A.P.F.S. had supported to take special permission of residence, died as he was being deported from Japan on March 22^nd 2010. Since Suraj’s death, the Justice Ministry of Japan and the Immigration Bureau had suspended deportations. The Justice Ministry of Japan and the Immigration Bureau enforced the deportation under such circumstanceｓ, and we feel strong resentment toward it.

 

Immigration Department officials who had given prosecutors the files regarding Suraj’s case were exempted last July, and the Justice Ministry of Japan officially stated that their action　to Suraj was legal. However, the lawsuit against the Japanese government and the Immigration Department officials is still continuing. In this case, the video showing the officials’ brutal act was submitted, and we believe the whole truth will be uncovered. This case questions the way the Immigration Bureau enforces deportations. The forced deportation of the 75 undocumented Filipinos while the case still ongoing is an extremely irresponsible action done by the immigration Bureau, the Justice Ministry of Japan, and Japanese government, and that cannot be accepted.

 

Yesterday, we talked with Suraj’s widow about the forced deportation. She expressed her strong frustration as she feels that the deportation completely ignored her husband’s death. Suraj’s widow, a plaintiff in this case, has been distressed from the trial, but she is taking Suraj’s case to court with her strong wish that we should never let the same thing happen again. Resuming dangerous deportations has utterly ignored both her husband’s death and her wish.

The examination of Immigration Department officials who sent Suraj to death will be held in Tokyo district court room 706 from 10:00am to 5:00pm on Friday, September 13th, 2013. Please do come join us if you consider that the forced deportation of the 75 undocumented Filipinos or resuming deportations at this point is a problem. We have to win this case to improve the condition of deportations. Our government should change it before creating another victim.

 

The 10th court hearing was held in Mr. Suraj’s trial for state compensation.

The 10^th court hearing in Mr. Suraj’s trial for state compensation was held on Jun 24 (Mon). This time, the main agenda was adjustment of the court schedule ahead. The chief judge expressed his strong will to deliver the judgment by himself, and the schedule was set so that we can conclude the trial by the end of this fiscal year. We can expect the chief judge would be fair in judgment, though no optimism is warranted on the situation.

After the court, the plaintiff’s lawyers confirmed the schedule of hearing, and mentioned the Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution, which has been a pending matter. We, APFS, have received many inquiries about the Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution, such as “ I demand the immigration department officials to face criminal charge, since what they have done was a crime. Is there any possibility for the Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution to be held, when the case is dropped?” Over 1,000 signatures have been collected for requesting forced prosecution from the Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution. The plaintiff’s lawyers said that the Committee would definitely be held on a timely basis, and the signatures would not be wasted.

Following is the court schedule ahead.

TBD implies change on the date. When the date changes, we announce the new date on this blog.

-       10 a.m. ~ 5 p.m., September 13 (Fri), Court Room no. 706

Hearing on the four immigration department officials.

Other five officials also will be present in court, and be questioned if necessary.

-       (TBD) 10 a.m. ~ 5 p.m., October 23 (Wed), Court Room no. 706

Hearing on doctors related.

-       (TBD) 3 p.m. ~, February 3 (Mon), Court Room no. 705

Closing argument.

In the next hearing, we can witness the questioning to the four immigration department officials, who have not appeared in the court despite they are defendants that leaded Mr. Suraj to his death. Please come to the court on September 13.