Japan: The Justice Ministry Suggests Falun Gong Practitioners Seeking Refugee Status Apply for Residence Permission

Written on January 26, 2003

(Clearwisdom.net) Five Chinese Falun Gong practitioners living in Japan who applied for refugee status one year and ten months ago, received notice recently informing them to come meet with the Tokyo immigration authorities on January 24. After the meeting, they were told that the information they provided in applying for refugee status failed to fully prove that they will face persecution in China. Therefore, their refugee application was denied. However, the officials suggested that they apply for residence permission.

These Falun Gong practitioners learned that this is the first time ever that the Japanese government allowed refugee applicants whose applications were denied to apply for residence status. This decision showed that the Japanese government is giving protection to persecuted Falun Gong practitioners. Therefore, they thank the Japanese government for their support. At the same time, they also felt it was regrettable that the Japanese government did not fully recognize the human rights abuse of Falun Gong practitioners by the Jiang regime.

The Jiang regime banned Falun Gong in July 1999. Since then, many practitioners have been illegally arrested, detained, sent to labor camps or mental hospitals, and tortured to death. When practitioners residing in Japan returned to China with Chinese passports, they were denied entrance and forcibly repatriated to Japan. Chinese practitioners in Japan whose passports have expired have been denied the right to renew their passports. All five practitioners mentioned above have been denied entry into their country on many occasions.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/1/26/43416.html

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