Immigration Officers Could Face Charges for Death of Ghanaian Man
It looks like Japanese immigration officers could face charges over rough treatment that seems to have caused the death of Abubakar Awudu Suraj, an illegal immigrant from Ghana:
From the Japan Times:
The action Monday came six months after the man’s Japanese widow and her lawyers filed a criminal complaint demanding that prosecutors take action against the airport immigration officers who overpowered Abubakar Awudu Suraj to get him on the jet, where he subsequently died of unknown causes while handcuffed in his seat.
[...]
Mayumi Yoshida, assistant general secretary of Asian People’s Friendship Society and a supporter of the widow, had quoted a Chiba police officer as saying the immigration officers carried Suraj, who was acting violently, aboard an Egypt Air jet on March 22. Handcuffed and his mouth covered with a towel, Suraj was found unconscious in the aircraft and confirmed dead at a hospital, Yoshida had quoted the officer as saying.
The police were unable to pinpoint the cause of death. They showed Yoshida a report dated May 20 that indicated there were no signs of disease or physical damage, either internal or external. Suraj came to Japan on a 15-day visa in May 1988, according to Yoshida. In 1990, he began living with the woman who later became his wife. He was arrested in 2006 on suspicion of staying in the country illegally and received a deportation order. The same month, his wife registered their marriage.
A Sankei Shimbun article notes that an autopsy found no visible external/internal injuries or bone fractures.
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