A prominent Nigerian asylum seeker and activist, Elizabeth Obueza, is being held in solitary at a Tokyo detention centre.
A report on Thursday in Japan said the case has highlighted a growing crackdown on foreigners living in Japan without visas and prompted demands for her release.
Shoichi Ibusuki, her lawyer, said Obueza was detained two weeks ago after authorities turned down an appeal against her asylum rejection.
Ibusuki said the 48-year-old Obueza campaigned for asylum seekers and the 4,700 people on “provisional release” from immigration detention.
The lawyer said that Obueza’s arrest is part of a wider campaign by the Justice Ministry, which in September 2015 said it would take steps to reduce the 60,000 foreigners living in Japan without visas.
Ibusuki said: “People on provisional release, many of whom have lived in Japan for decades, have been among those targeted.
“Elizabeth was targeted and detained for being an activist,” said immigration lawyer. “I want her released immediately.”
Mitsuru Miyasako, Head of the Provisional Release Association in Japan, a group representing refugees and immigrants, the activist is held in solitary because she’s an activist and immigration officials don’t want her causing trouble.
He said locking someone up alone in a tiny room is to ruin them psychologically.
Naoaki Torisu, a senior Justice Ministry official overseeing immigration detention, declined to comment on Obueza’s situation, saying he could not discuss individual cases.
Obueza said at a news conference that she fled Nigeria for Japan in 1991 to escape female genital mutilation and applied for asylum in 2011.
She said she was locked up for more than 22 hours a day.
Obueza said: “I want to help people from across a security divide in a small meeting room at the detention centre.
“Give me the right to help people don’t put me in here.”
In 2014, a Sri Lankan named Niculas Fernando died in a solitary cell at the same centre, highlighting severe problems in medical care provided at the facilities.
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