Court awards 2 asylum seekers damages over prolonged detention

A Japanese district court has ordered the state to pay a total of 1.2 million yen in compensation to two asylum seekers, ruling that in some cases their repeated detentions by the country's immigration agency did not take account of their physical and mental conditions.
Deniz, a Kurdish man in his 40s with Turkish nationality, and Heydar Safari Diman, an Iranian national in his 50s, sought about 30 million yen in damages, after they were detained and released several times over the space of more than a decade. They filed the lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court in 2022 focusing on their treatment from 2016.
The ruling handed down on Tuesday said that on some occasions, they were detained despite deteriorating health conditions, such as a diagnosis of depression.
"We cannot say the necessity of detention overrode their physical and mental disadvantages," the court said, ruling that some of their detentions violated the International Covenants on Human Rights and amounted to unjust physical restraint prohibited by Japan's immigration law.
The plaintiffs also questioned the immigration law itself, which allows detention without going through a review process such as trials, saying that it infringes the human rights covenants.
But the court dismissed their claim on the grounds that their rights to a trial are guaranteed through a lawsuit seeking release.
Masako Suzuki, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, underscored the significance of the ruling, telling a press conference that it "clearly acknowledges that there was a violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights in the detention."
The Immigration Services Agency has said it will respond "appropriately" after reviewing details of the ruling, since some of its claims were not upheld.
According to the complaint, Deniz, who declined to give his surname for fear of retaliation against his family in Turkey, and Safari Diman had both overstayed their visas and were subsequently repeatedly detained by the Immigration Services Agency.
From 2016 to 2020, they were detained several times for a total of more than three and a half years each, the complaint said. They have been on provisional releases since the spring of 2020, according to their supporters.
Seeking help from the international community, the two had notified a U.N. expert panel on arbitrary detention of their cases, leading the panel to release an opinion in 2020 that found their deprivation of liberty was "arbitrary" and contravened human rights covenants.
© KYODO

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Kyodo News

25 minutes ago

• Kyodo News

2 SDF planes leave Japan for Djibouti for possible Mideast evacuation

KYODO NEWS - 4 minutes ago - 17:46 | All, Japan Two Self-Defense Forces planes departed Japan on Saturday for eastern Africa to stand by for a possible evacuation of Japanese nationals from the Middle East amid mounting safety concerns over the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. The C-2 transport planes left Miho Air Base in Tottori Prefecture, western Japan, carrying about 120 personnel, according to the Defense Ministry. They will stand by at a Self-Defense Forces base in Djibouti, with no specific airlift plans at present as major airports in Israel and Iran remain closed. Since Israeli strikes on Iran on June 13, the two countries have exchanged attacks, with tensions further escalating after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested using military options to pressure Tehran to abandon its nuclear program. On Friday, a total of 87 Japanese nationals and their family members were evacuated, with 66 traveling from Iran to Azerbaijan and 21 from Israel to Jordan on government-arranged buses, according to the Foreign Ministry. Before the bus evacuation began, about 280 Japanese citizens were in Iran, and around 1,000 were in Israel, the ministry said. On Tuesday, Japan raised the travel alert for all of Iran to its highest, Level 4, advising nationals to "evacuate and avoid all travel." Most of Israel has remained subject to the second-highest Level 3 advisory, which urges people to "avoid all travel." Related coverage: 87 Japanese nationals, family members evacuated from Iran, Israel

27 minutes ago

SDF Aircraft Depart for Djibouti to Evacuate Japanese Nationals

News from Japan Society Jun 21, 2025 17:34 (JST) Tottori, June 21 (Jiji Press)--Two Japanese Air Self-Defense Force transport aircraft left Japan for Djibouti on Saturday to prepare to evacuate Japanese nationals from Israel and Iran. The C-2 aircraft took off from the ASDF's Miho base in the western Japan prefecture of Tottori around 2:45 to 3 p.m., heading for the East African country, where the SDF has a base. At the request of Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani on Thursday ordered the Self-Defense Forces to prepare to transport Japanese nationals amid the escalating Israel-Iran conflict. Such a transportation mission using SDF aircraft was last conducted in Lebanon last October. On Friday, the Foreign Ministry said that a total of 87 Japanese nationals and their family members living in Israel and Iran, were evacuated to neighboring countries by Japanese government-chartered buses. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press

The Mainichi

42 minutes ago

• The Mainichi

2 SDF planes leave Japan for Djibouti for possible Mideast evacuation

TOTTORI (Kyodo) -- Two Self-Defense Forces planes departed Japan on Saturday for eastern Africa to stand by for a possible evacuation of Japanese nationals from the Middle East amid mounting safety concerns over the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. The C-2 transport planes left Miho Air Base in Tottori Prefecture, western Japan, carrying about 120 personnel, according to the Defense Ministry. They will stand by at a Self-Defense Forces base in Djibouti, with no specific airlift plans at present as major airports in Israel and Iran remain closed. Since Israeli strikes on Iran on June 13, the two countries have exchanged attacks, with tensions further escalating after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested using military options to pressure Tehran to abandon its nuclear program. On Friday, a total of 87 Japanese nationals and their family members were evacuated, with 66 traveling from Iran to Azerbaijan and 21 from Israel to Jordan on government-arranged buses, according to the Foreign Ministry. Before the bus evacuation began, about 280 Japanese citizens were in Iran, and around 1,000 were in Israel, the ministry said. On Tuesday, Japan raised the travel alert for all of Iran to its highest, Level 4, advising nationals to "evacuate and avoid all travel." Most of Israel has remained subject to the second-highest Level 3 advisory, which urges people to "avoid all travel."