3/23/2010

Ghanaian Dead in Narita

I found a tiny article in The Asahi Shimbun this morning, about the death of a Ghanaian man. Around three p.m. yesterday, he was about to be deported from the country and forced to board an EGYPTAIR flight. He reportedly resisted, and was "restrained" by immigration officers. He then "stopped moving," and was taken to the hospital in the airport, where his death was confirmed. That's about all in the article.

I think there are questions to be asked: why was he being deported in the first place?; why and how did he resist?; did he say anything?; what means of restraint was employed; was it a murder? The Japanese mainstream media are not accustomed to asking those sorts of questions when it comes to government-related cases like this, nor is the government willing to answer them. People "stop moving" every now and then in prisons and detention facilities in this country, and little investigation is conducted.


But this time, there are international witnesses, as the event took place on an airplane to Cairo. A man, a human being, "stopped moving," and it would be highly unlikely if there weren't airline employees and passengers present there to see it when that happened.


I believe the international community should take interest in this case and raise questions that we, the Japanese, may not be quite capable of asking ourselves. I want to know the facts, and I think they should be known; we need to know what our government is doing in our name so that we will be a bit more aware of our responsibility.


Oh, the flight number is MS965, by the way. It took off about fifty minutes late on March 22nd, with dozens of passengers and EGYPTAIR employees who likely saw what happened.

29 comments:

Unknown said...

Yea i'm Ghanaian and i heard the news today as well.I will be glad if the truth of this incident is be told. I will try as much as possible to let my Government get into this issue so as the truth should come out.

Thanks

Ali

Yujiro Tsuneno said...

Hi Ali,

Thanks for your comment. I will also make some phone calls tomorrow morning about this and give you an update if any.

Unknown said...

Hi Mr Yujiro

Thank you very much for your concern and I'm very glad.I'm also in contact to our Embassy to make sure the truth will come out. Nothing more we all need but just the truth of the matter. Once again thank you very much

Ali

sisse said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sisse said...

HI Mr. Yujiro Tsuneno.

Thank you so much for your support,
we Ghanians feel admiration on your comment, please if you do have any future details about the matter you can please share it with us.
Thank you and God bless you.

SURAQAH

Unknown said...

Hi Mr.Yujiro
Thank you very much for your concern,we are so glad to your coment
and we will stay close to you untill the truth has come on this incident.
If there is future inmformation kindly share with us.
Thanks

Seid

Yujiro Tsuneno said...

Hi sisse,

Thanks for your comment. Mai Yaguchi reports on her twitter (http://twitter.com/notoriousM_A_I) that she has contacted and gotten the following response from a local representative of Amnesty International in Japan:"現状では、彼を知る方、支援者、そして弁護士から情報収集している段階です。よって、今後の動きについては現在お答えできる段階に にありません。 せっかく追い問い合わせいただいたにも関わらず、明瞭な回答ができず、心苦しく思っております。今後、幣団体として何らかの行動を起こすことがあれば、ホームページ上でお知らせいたします。"[We are currently collecting information from those who knows him, his supporters and his lawyer. We are thus not ready to answer inquiries as to our future action yet. We regret we cannot provide a clear answer to your questions. If we are to take any action, we will let you know on our website.]

I will also try to raise public awareness in Japanese but it's great to know you guys are interested, Ali and sisse. I still haven't gotten any new information, but I promise I will let you know as soon as I get it.

Yujiro Tsuneno said...

Hi Seid,

Thanks for your comment. I learned that he had a Japanese wife, who is also demanding that the truth be told.
http://yt77.blogspot.com/2010/03/ghanaians-wife-protests.html

sisse said...

Hi Mr. Yujiro Tsuneno.

Sure it will be very good if you can raise a public awareness in Japanese, and w'll be so interested on it if posibble, wy becuase if this kind of incident can take place here in Japan is realy gonna destroy the internal image that we having about Japanese, such a respect& humanity,
so we stand fame on this case for the truth.
Thank yo so much

SURAQAH

Thank you so much

SURAQAH

Anonymous said...

Mr. Yijiro, thanks for the good work. We hope you would find a way of digging out the cause of the man's death

ACA - Joe said...

Good evening! Mr. Yujiro, thanks for the good work you have done. We as Ghanaians are now trying to take the appropriate steps to expose the Japanese lmmigration nefarious activities against Ghanaians and for that matter Africans living in Japan. Mr. Yujiro, we hope you would continue to update us on Mr Awudu's case. More grease to your elbows - Thanks

Yujiro Tsuneno said...

Hi SURAQAH,

Here's my humble attempt at awareness raising in Japanese: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/asita211/20100331/1270071584

Yujiro Tsuneno said...

Hi Anonymous,

Thanks for your comment. I'm not a journalist myself, nor am I an experienced activist, but I'll do my best with my limited time and abilities.

Yujiro Tsuneno said...

Hi Joe,

It's good to know you guys are working on this. So that's how his name is spelled, "Awudu." Would you kindly share his full name in alphabet, if you know it?
His name is アブバカル・アウドゥ・スラジュ in katakana.

Anonymous said...

Hello! good evening Yujiro! lt rather unfortunate that l cannot write the name in Katakana. Anyway, his full name is AWUDU SURACHU ABUBAKAR. Have a nice sakura peaceful weekend

ACA-Joe said...

Hello! Yujiro, the gentleman's full name is AWUDU SURAJU (SURACHU) ABUBAKAR. Sorry, l made a mistake in the spelling - ignore the one in brackets. Have a nice weekend

Yujiro Tsuneno said...

Hi ACA Joe,

Thanks for the information.

Yujiro Tsuneno said...

Hi ACA Joe,

Thanks for the information.

Regis Arnaud said...

Hi, I am the correspondent of Le Figaro in Japan. I want to follow this issue. Does anyone have the contact of the wife? and could someone explain to me how this man was deported since he was married to a Japanese citizen??? I requested an interview with the Ambassador of Ghana today and I am waiting for a reply. if you are concerned about privacy purposes please reply to me at rarnaud@hotmail.com

Thank you in advance
Regis Arnaud

Yujiro Tsuneno said...

Hi Regis,

I don't have the contact information, but I think the following organization might be able to help you:
http://apfs.jp/report20100407_571.php

Their blog publishes a letter from the Ghanaian to his wife:
http://apfs-jp.blogspot.com/2010/04/suraj.html

Anonymous said...

hello Mr Yujiro, thanks for your support for foreigners and not only ghanaians.

i am from ghana too and have heard of this case. but my question to you is that, to what extent can you help fight this case?

as you said, goverment related cases are always kept sacred from the public. so who will be risking his or her job to assist you?

we all wish we could do things like this but .....????????
i guess if even there were no flight attendants and passengers present when he stopped moving, the cameras are there to provide some evidence as to what happened.
why is the government and the immigration refusing to show this videos if they are CLEAN?

for now, all we can think of is that a large amount of harm was inflicted upon him and that resulted in his death.

the question still stands and lurks in the shadows. IS JAPAN DEMOCRATIC? DOES PRESS FREEDOM PREVAIL IN JAPAN?

may his soul rest in perfect peace.

Yujiro Tsuneno said...

Hi Anonymous,

Thanks for your comment, and sorry for a late response. I did read it on the day you posted it, but I didn't know how to respond.

You are right. This country is no democracy. But that's no excuse for me, a citizen with all the privileges, to stay silent. I am responsible for my government, and I should do what I can to change it. But those are just empty words unless they are turned into action.

By the way, you are right, the video does exist, and the police have it, according to APFS:
http://apfs-jp.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post_12.html

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