Nigerian activist held in solitary in Japan, prompting calls for her release

  

TOKYO - A prominent Nigerian asylum seeker and activist is being held in solitary at a Tokyo detention centre, a case that has highlighted a growing crackdown on foreigners living in Japan without visas and prompted demands for her release.

Elizabeth Aruoriwo Obueza was detained two weeks ago after authorities turned down an appeal against her asylum rejection, Obueza and her lawyer told Reuters.

Obueza, 48, campaigns for asylum seekers and the 4,700 people on "provisional release" from immigration detention - a status that lets foreigners out from detention but bars them from working and travelling freely.

Obueza's arrest is part of a wider campaign by the Justice Ministry, which in September 2015 said it would take steps to reduce the 60,000 foreigners living in Japan without visas.

People on provisional release, many of whom have lived in Japan for decades, have been among those targeted, activists and lawyers say.

"Elizabeth was targeted and detained for being an activist," said immigration lawyer Shoichi Ibusuki. "I want her released immediately."

The crackdown on people like Obueza comes even as people on provisional release, despite being legally unable to work, power Japan's construction and manufacturing sectors as companies scramble to find workers in the worst labour shortage in decades.

"Elizabeth is held in solitary because she's an activist and immigration officials don't want her causing trouble," said Mitsuru Miyasako, head of the Provisional Release Association in Japan, a group representing refugees and immigrants.

"Locking someone up alone in a tiny room is to ruin them psychologically."

Naoaki Torisu, a senior Justice Ministry official overseeing immigration detention, declined to comment on Obueza's situation, saying he could not discuss individual cases.

Obueza, an evangelical Christian, said she fled Nigeria for Japan in 1991 to escape female genital mutilation and applied for asylum in 2011.

Obueza told Reuters she was locked up for more than 22 hours a day. Typically, detainees at the Tokyo Immigration Bureau, where she is held, are locked up for 18 hours a day, according to the Justice Ministry.

"I want to help people," Obueza told Reuters from across a security divide in a small meeting room at the detention centre. "Give me the right to help people - don't put me in here."

During her previous 10-month arrest in 2011 at a different centre, Obueza organised detainees to write a petition to immigration authorities calling for better medical care, Miyasako said.

For more than a decade, Obueza has visited immigration detention centres across Japan, helping detainees navigate the asylum system and find legal help, said rights groups, lawyers and former detainees.

"She has supported so many people as an activist and that's a nuisance for the immigration authorities," said Miyasako, who has worked with Obueza, adding that she had helped hundreds.

Former detainees and people on provisional release visit her in detention every day, sometimes waiting for hours, he said.

Solitary cells, usually for detainees who are ill, unruly or have tried to harm themselves, are about five square metres, detainees say.

In 2014, a Sri Lankan man died in a solitary cell at the same centre, highlighting problems with medical care.

Isolation has not stopped Obueza from fighting for detainees' rights.

"When I go outside my room, I go around the windows and talk to the others," Obueza said. "I advise them."

Obueza said of the immigration officials who locked her up: "You might think you arrested me, but I think God wants me here to help some other people."

Italian man arrested for beating to death Nigerian asylum seeker

Rome An Italian football hooligan has been arrested and charged with murder after beating to death a Nigerian asylum seeker who reacted to racial insults against his partner, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said on Thursday.

According to the La Repubblica newspaper, Emmanuel Chidi Nnamdi, 36, got into a fight on Tuesday after the man called his 24-year-old girlfriend Chinyere - referred to only by her first name - a "monkey."

Nnamdi was taken to hospital in a comatose state and declared dead on Wednesday in the central Italian town of Fermo, some 170 kilometres northeast of Rome, near the Adriatic coast.

The accused, Amedeo Mancini, is a supporter of 4th league team Fermana and had been banned from the local stadium because of his violent behaviour, ANSA news agency reported.

The incident led Alfano to travel to Fermo to chair a meeting with local police. Before the talks, he told reporters it was a "day of infinite sadness."

The minister later said Mancini's actions were racially motivated, an aggravating circumstance which could earn the accused a longer jail sentence, and that Chinyere's asylum demand had been accepted.

"She has been granted humanitarian protection status," Alfano said.

Italy's highest authorities also weighed in on the case.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wrote on Twitter that the government was committed to fight "hatred, racism and violence," while President Sergio Mattarella delegated Fermo's authorities to offer Chinyere "any kind of required assistance."

"What happened is shocking and deeply disturbs the principle of international protection which, aside from the international obligation of states, should be rooted in everybody's conscience," UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) executive Stephane Jaquemet said in a statement.

Comunita di Capodarco, the Catholic charity that was giving shelter to the couple, issued a statement giving a version provided by Chinyere. She said the man put his hands on her, triggering Nnamdi's reaction.

"A fight broke out, a street sign was pulled from the pavement, there were heavy blows and one, probably fatal, hit the young Nigerian on the back of the neck. Once on the floor ... the young man was hit repeatedly," the Comunita said.

The couple left Nigeria to flee from the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram, their hosts said.

Chinyere travelled while pregnant, but fell ill during the sea crossing to Sicily and lost her baby, probably as a result of beatings suffered in Libya, they added.

Father Vinicio Albanesi, who leads the community that sheltered the couple, said the people who attacked the asylum seekers were the same who earlier this year planted unexploded bombs in front of four Catholic churches in Fermo. Alfano said he could not confirm this.

DPA

Nigeria, Switzerland partner to assist deportees

ABUJA The government of Switzerland has pledged to partner the Federal Government to assist Nigerians deported from Switzerland.
Ms Simonetta Sommaruga Federal Councillor of the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police, made the pledge in Abuja on Friday when she paid a courtesy visit to the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She said that more than 180 illegal Nigerian immigrants were deported from Switzerland in 2012.
The Swiss federal councillor added that the 180 were, however, granted some "return help" to assist them.
She noted that more than 900 other illegal immigrants had yet to leave that country.
"Another 2 700 asylum seekers came to our country last year but none of them have been granted asylum because they had no genuine reasons to become refugees in
"The asylum requests were turned down because there were no genuine reasons for the asylum.
"However, the more than 180 Nigerians who left our country got return help to come back so they could have something to fall back on."
Sommaruga said that the migration partnership Switzerland shared with Nigeria would enable the Swiss Government to assist Nigeria in the areas of drug, human trafficking and terrorism.
Receiving the Federal Councillor, the Minister of State I, Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, said that skills acquisition centres would be set up by the government to assist the deportees.
Onwuliri said that the centres would encourage Nigerians living illegally in other countries to return, noting that the measure would also save the image of the country.
"It is a wonderful sign that Switzerland sent its justice and police minister to Nigeria and a lot is coming up to strengthen relations between the two countries.
"Talking about the issue of migration and deportation, a lot is being put in place so that it does not continue to dent the image of Nigeria and spoil the relationship between both countries.
"The issue of training for returnees is being taken seriously, it is not just to deport people but for them to know that when they return, they can be gainfully engaged," she said.
The minister urged the Swiss Government to treat seriously the death of Nigerian immigrants under Swiss police custody, calling for full investigation into outstanding cases.
The UN Refugee Agency Report 2011, stated that some 10 500 Nigerians sought asylum in industrialised countries in 2011.
According to the report, Nigerians filed 1 303 applications for asylum in Switzerland.

Protesters shout slogans from inside Nigerian embassy in Berlin

Asylum seekers of Nigerian extraction in Germany were stunned on Monday as German police stormed the embassy premises in Berlin to arrest protesters.

Protesters were protesting against Nigeria's Government collaboration with German officials in deporting them.
 
The protesters shouted slogans from inside the Nigerian embassy. Police detained 14 protesters who briefly occupied the Nigerian embassy, a police spokesman reported on Monday.

"We protest against the Nigerian embassy's involvement in the deportation of refugees to countries that are not safe." one of the protesters said.

All of the detained men were asylum seekers, a representative of the refugees said

Deportation flight of Nigerian woman canceled

The international community and human rights organisation should investigate this pathetic case involving a Nigerian woman who had earlier suffered miscarriage and the Irish authorities still went ahead with deportation plans despite a doctor's advice that she was unfit to fly.

Now Irish police insisted that the Nigerian who was bleeding as a result of a miscarriage in recent weeks was medically assessed as being fit to be deported.
However, controversy was to come following the manner in which Olayinka Ijaware, a mother of two, was being prepared for deportation to Nigeria on Tuesday night. The flight was later canceled without explanation.

Ijaware was brought to the Rotunda Hospital on Tuesday afternoon after suffering bleeding linked to an apparent miscarriage.

Supporters of the the Nigerian woman had said on Tuesday that the miscarriage occurred just hours before she was due to be deported. However, the woman said yesterday the miscarriage had occurred last month after almost eight weeks of pregnancy, but she had suffered bleeding and complications over recent weeks.

After being treated in the Rotunda on Tuesday, the doctor who dealt with her wrote a letter advising caution over her condition. “To whom it concerns, the above named patient is unfit for air travel if she is actively bleeding per vagina. If you have queries, please do not hesitate to contact us,” the letter said.

A spokeswoman for the immigration said that while she did not wish to comment on Ijaware’s case, she said it was the police's policy to ensure that anyone facing deportation was in a fit condition to fly.

“We would not place anyone on a flight that is not certified as fit to travel,” she said.

In this case, it is understood that the Garda National Immigration Bureau had a doctor at the airport who assessed Ijaware as fit to travel, as reported yesterday.

Ijaware, who has two children aged four and seven, has been living in Tramore, Co Waterford, for about four years.

While her application for asylum was refused, she is considering taking judicial review proceedings against her deportation.

Groups representing asylum seekers yesterday criticised the circumstances of the way she was deported.