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Tokyo, Japan Sept 29 - The Tokyo High Court on
Wednesday dismissed an appeal filed by a Kurdish
asylum seeker to revoke a Justice Ministry decision
to deny him refugee status.
Erdal Dogan, a 31-year old Turkish Kurd, filed the
lawsuit in May 2002 after the Justice Ministry's
Immigration Bureau refused to grant him refugee
status in 2000. His appeal to immigration was
rejected in September 2001.
The Tokyo District Court dismissed his case in
February.
In handing down the decision, presiding Judge
Yoshinori Ishikawa said he supported the first
ruling, which stated that the situation in Turkey
had changed with the spread of democracy there.
"In 2002, the Turkish legislature approved of the
removal of the ban on Kurdish broadcasts, and since
June 2004, TV programs and radio shows in Kurdish
have also been aired," Ishikawa said.
Dogan plans to file an appeal with the Supreme
Court.
Lawyer Takeshi Ohashi said at a news conference
after the ruling that Dogan might be detained by
immigration officials the next time he goes for the
monthly renewal of his provisional release, which
currently allows him to stay in Japan.
However, Ohashi said the Tokyo High Court in June
ordered deportation procedures halted until Dogan's
status was finalized.
Dogan told the press briefing that human rights
violations against Kurds continue in Turkey, noting:
"10,000 Kurds are still detained and thousands are
being forced to flee from their homes. (The
problems) have not ended. I am asking (Japan) not to
put me and my family's lives in danger."
Dogan arrived in Japan in 1999 and applied for
refugee status later the same year, saying he feared
persecution for ethnic and religious reasons if he
returned to his homeland. Japan has never given a
Turkish Kurd refugee status, according to lawyer
Ohashi.
Last summer, the Dogans, a family of five, and
another Kurdish family from Turkey staged a sit-in
in front of United Nations University in Tokyo to
protest the government's systemic refusal to
recognize refugees.
www.japantimes.co.jp
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