All 23 Afghan asylum seekers detained at the government's immigration center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, have been provisionally released as of Friday, their lawyers said.
This is the result of both a district court ruling that suspended the detention of some of the Afghans and approval by the Justice Ministry of provisional release for the others.
According to the lawyers, most of the 23 Afghans are of the minority Hazara ethnic group. They applied for refugee status in Japan claiming they face persecution by the now-toppled Taliban regime at home.