Death of Wishma in a detention cell in Japan is shrouded by mysterious circumstances

Protestors in Nagoya actively demonstrated their anger over the death

By Athula Ranasinghe 

The tragic death of a Sri Lankan girl, Wishma Rathnayake in a detention camp in Nagoya, Japan despite her repeated calls for hospitalisation and medication has received publicity in New York Times of 18 May. This publicity has stirred up a hornet’s nest across the globe. The public agitation over the mysterious manner in which she laid down her life does not appear to have generated the wrath and the condemnation in Sri Lanka, probably due to the COVID-19 pandemic and prolonged lockdowns.

Initially, it is reported that she had come down with high fever and subsequently her face and limbs turned numb and her health deteriorated to such an extent where she could consume a little bit of water administered with sugar and a slice of bread. Though she begged for hospitalisation for treatment, all her efforts fell on deaf years on the immigrant authorities and they suspected that she was faking her illness to avoid deportation. Finally, poor Wathsala, 33-year-old, died in her cell alone without any medication or hospitalisation on 6 March. She was forced to make the supreme sacrifice for overstaying her visa.

With this unfortunate death, Japan’s immigration system has been subjected to ridiculous criticism in that that the critics say that she became a victim as a result of an opaque and capricious bureaucracy, which provided unfettered powers for the immigration authorities to deal with over-stayed foreigners with an iron fist. The inhuman treatment meted out to Wishma ignoring all the accepted norms of humanity even prisoners would not receive has had a huge dent in its governance. Japan appears to be in a position like that of cat who defecated on a rock, unable to respond to a host of irrefutable issues. 

Could you think of the arrogance of the Japanese bureaucrats who did not have a modicum of decency to provide basic medical facilities at her death bed? It may be true that she had committed a toe-curling faux-fax by overstaying in Japan but the manner in which she was inhumanly treated is mindboggling and smacks of murderous intention to deter such overstaying and hypocrisy. The authority’s blunt refusal to hear the piteous appeals for medication from a patient who has been ailing for some time in detention camp certainly deserves outright condemnation by the civil society and women organisations who cry at the drop of a hat in main streets. 

Japan has conveniently forgotten the sacrifice Sri Lanka made at the St. Francisco Conference by late J.R. Jayewardene and it paved the world powers to abandon anti-military action against Japan immediately after the Second World War. The murder of the above Sri Lankan (not the death, I would say) is the reciprocate treatment Sri Lanka finally received at the hands of Japan for its magnanimous gesture.

Insiders say that the death tragedy has resulted in a sudden provocation in Japan, a country with a long history of hostility toward immigration. The enormous pressure exerted and mounted by the Asians living in Japan over the death of this Sri Lankan has forced the authorities to re-visit their immigration and detention strategy which demands a radical change in keeping with the human values and dignity.

The Japanese immigrations authorities have a dubious and notorious track record over the deaths of refugees in their custody. It is reported that 24 detainees have died since 1997 according to the Japan Lawyers Network for Refugees. In the most recent past, an Indonesian and a Nigerian have died as a result of the inhuman treatments. None of those cases have inspired the public anger, outrage and momentum late Wishma received because the whole world knew the excruciating life she suffered at the hands of the immigration authorities. By taking all the facts and circumstantial evidence as a whole, it would be safer to assume that this death is a homicide which warrants criminal charges against the immigration authorities.

Though the detention centre is reported to have a medical facility, it is deemed to be more or less a village dispensary with limited medical facilities and drugs like vitamins and painkillers. At the last stage, the victim was in state of anxiety and depression and her prolonged ailment demanded an immediate hospitalisation. A doctor who is reported to have examined her has recommended immediate hospitalisation, the authorities have taken a defence on the ground that no such recommendation for hospitalisation has been made thus creating more controversy. 

It would be clearly seen that the immigration authorities are in the process of fabricating all cock and bull stories for their defence. According to the interim report on the victim’s death released by the immigration authorities, the medical history of the patient is limited to minute details such as blood pressure, oxygen saturation readings and the drugs administered for her headaches or chest pain and every bite of food she rejected. The doctor’s recommendation for the hospitalisation of the patient from the medical file is rather intriguing, which discloses all the hallmarks of a questionable foul-play. 

How effective are the Sri Lankan foreign missions in dealing with the Sri Lankans domiciled in those countries, is the question that begs answers. According to the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Sri Lankan Embassy, Japan, it appears to have details of the 26 detainees under the Japanese Immigration Detention Centres. It is rather doubtful whether it has the health records in its possessions. Had it possessed such records, it could have easily pursued such records and built an interaction with the immigration authorities. I have my serious doubts whether the Sri Lankan Embassy had taken up the cudgels of the victim with a view to saving her precious life. Now that the final report of the death of the victim is expected to be released in July, it has come to a situation where we have to wait for the report with anguish and desperation to ascertain the cause of the death. 

Besides, readers would recall that the present Labour Minister on his assumption of duties had the gumption to recall the Labour Officers attached to the foreign embassies on the ground of pecuniary reasons. These Labour Officers’ main task was to look into the welfare and grievances of the Sri Lankans irrespective of the fact whether they are over-stayed detainees or not. Had we not recalled them, the precious life of this victim could have been easily saved without any embarrassment to the Government. We have no option but to lay a part of the blame on the Labour Minister’s lack of foresight and immaturity. 

I am unable to comprehend as to why the Foreign Ministry so far has failed to summon the Japanese Ambassador and convey its formal condemnation over the manner in which the aforesaid Sri Lankan was inhumanly treated. It has failed to tell the nation the factual reasons behind the death of this victim and also how it intends consoling the bereaved family.