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

Minister orders release of asylum-seeker

Immigration bureau overruled on Myanmar activist's temporary liberty

Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa decided Friday to temporarily release a 46-year-old Myanmarese asylum-seeker, who had been detained for overstaying his visa since Oct. 31, citing humanitarian concerns over his two daughters. In a press conference after the day's Cabinet meeting, Nozawa said he had ordered Immigration Bureau officials to release Khin Maung Latt, a democracy activist who has lived in Japan for more than a decade with his Filipino wife. The couple's two daughters, aged 6 and 9, were born in Japan.

"There is little possibility that he will flee," Nozawa said.

"With the rights of the children in mind, (I made) the decision from both a human rights and political perspective."

The surprising move was a top-down decision by Nozawa after the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau had rejected Khin Maung Latt's application for temporarily release a day earlier.

Nozawa added, however, that the ministry will proceed with deportation procedures for the family, none of whom has Japanese citizenship or legitimate residency status, so that the government can deport the family if the Supreme Court rejects Khin Maung Latt's appeal for refugee status.

Khin Maung Latt filed an application for refugees status in 1994, claiming he would be persecuted if he returned to his homeland, but the request was denied four years later by then Justice Minister Shozaburo Nakamura.

He then waged a legal battle to win either refugee status or special resident status, but the courts repeatedly rejected his appeals.

After the Tokyo High Court rejected his lawsuit in October, he was placed in custody at the headquarters of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, in Shinagawa Ward.

On Friday evening, Khin Maung Latt was released after being detained for 50 days on surety of 200,000 yen, and was greeted by his family and friends.

"It was a very long time to live apart from my family, but I could make it home before Christmas, which my daughters were longing for," he said.

During a Diet session in November, Nozawa said the ministry would not take any measures that would forcibly split up the family, but will proceed with deportation procedures for the entire family.

This decision leaves immigration authorities in a difficult position, with a senior immigration official acknowledged that it is impossible to deport someone to a third country without that person's consent.

Khin Maung Latt said he will not agree to leave Japan for the Philippines or any other country because it is in the best interests of his daughters for the family to remain in Japan.