Taking the occasion of the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks on the United States, Afghans seeking asylum in Japan called Thursday for public attention to their tribulations and those of their homeland.
"While everybody pays attention to the some 3,000 victims of the terrorism in New York, people little understand the suffering of Afghanistan over many years," Safdari Ali said to passersby over a microphone in the Yurakucho district.
The 39-year-old man is one of at least 35 Afghans in the Tokyo metropolitan area currently seeking refugee status. Many of them say they fled the persecution of the Taliban regime, according to a group of Japanese lawyers supporting them. Even with the regime's removal, they say, the instability of the country and their Hazara ethnicity -- long the victims of persecution -- give their refugee claims merit.
The Justice Ministry has turned down all of their applications for refugee status and put them in line for deportation, although they are currently free on provisional release.
Ali said he was held by immigration authorities at Narita airport upon his arrival in October and was detained for nearly seven months.
"The immigration authorities said we did not have evidence (to prove ourselves to be refugees), but everybody should have known that it is dangerous in Afghanistan," Ali said.
He said he cannot make contact with his family members in Afghanistan because the communication infrastructure is poor in the area where they live.
A group of supporters handed passersby postcards petitioning for refugee status for the Afghans. They were addressed to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama, although not many people seemed to show interest.
