Burma Information Network- Japan (www.burmainfo.org)

Case stirs other asylum seekers

A government decision to grant residency last week to a Burmese activist and his family facing imminent deportation has triggered a spate of legal activity in similar cases.

On Friday, lawyers for a Kurdish asylum seeker from Turkey, his Filipina wife and their 3-year-old daughter filed suit with the Tokyo District Court to overturn a Justice Ministry deportation order.

The 28-year-old man, identified only as Taskin, came to Japan in 1991 to evade mandatory military service, which he feared would pit him against his own people.

After three rejections for refugee status, the man and his 37-year-old wife, Beltran, were told Jan. 28 they would be deported to their respective countries, and the daughter, Zilan, sent with the mother.

"It is extremely unusual for immigration authorities to detain both parents and separate them from the child," Takeshi Ohashi, a lawyer representing the family, told a news conference, adding the act violated human rights conventions.

Zilan, who is now living with her mother's sister, attended the news conference.

"She cries frantically at night, and keeps asking when she can be with her parents," the sister told reporters.

They claim the Kurdish man could face not only persecution if he were deported to Turkey, but also that the family would be separated in the process.

Citing humanitarian considerations, Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa announced last week he would grant special residency status to Burmese asylum seeker Khin Maung Latt, his Filipina wife, Maria Hope, and two Japan-born daughters, Demi, 10, and Michelle, 6. Meanwhile, their lawyer, Shogo Watanabe, said he hoped to focus public awareness on similar cases to pressure immigration authorities to adopt a transparent standard for granting special residency to undocumented foreigners.

Another Turkish Kurd-Filipina couple with two children born in Japan are also fighting in court to reverse a ministry decision not to grant the family refugee status, Watanabe said.

The 31-year-old Turkish man came to Japan in 1993 under circumstances similar to Taskin's. He applied for refugee status in 1997, but was turned down in 1999.

In 2000, he married a Philippine national. After a second application for refugee status was rejected in 2001, the man filed suit with the district court.