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20-05-2025
Dead Sri Lankan Woman's Family Demands Full Disclosure of Footage
News from Japan May 20, 2025 19:45 (JST) Tokyo, May 20 (Jiji Press)--The family of Wishma Sandamali, a Sri Lankan woman who died while being detained at an immigration facility in Japan, sued the Japanese government on Tuesday, demanding that all video footage of her detention be disclosed. According to the complaint filed with Tokyo District Court, the family raised a damages lawsuit against the government at Nagoya District Court in 2022, claiming that immigration authorities failed to provide the 33-year-old woman with necessary medical care at the facility in the central Japan city of Nagoya, causing her death. While the family demanded full disclosure of the 295 hours of video footage of her detention, the government side submitted only about five hours of footage to the court. In February, the family requested the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau to release the full footage, but the bureau turned down the request in March. At a press conference on Tuesday, Wishma's sister, Poornima, said that the video footage does not belong to the government, and that the bereaved family has the right to retrieve it. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Japan Times
04-04-2025
- Japan Times
Family of Sri Lankan woman who died in custody to sue Japan for footage
The family of Wishma Sandamali, a Sri Lankan woman who died in 2021 while in immigration custody, plans to sue the Japanese government as early as May, demanding the full release of surveillance footage documenting her detention. Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday, Wishma's younger sister, Wayomi, said, 'My family and I cannot accept this at all. We have the right to see everything.' The family is seeking to overturn a government decision to withhold portions of the footage, arguing the refusal is unjustified. Attorney Shoichi Ibusuki, representing the family, told reporters that the government's refusal suggests there may be 'inconvenient information for immigration authorities.' Wishma died at the age of 33 in March 2021 at a facility run by the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau. She had been detained since August 2020 for overstaying her visa, and her condition deteriorated in early 2021, with repeated vomiting in the weeks before her death. In 2022, the family sued the government in the Nagoya District Court seeking state redress, alleging that authorities failed to provide necessary medical care. The government has so far released about five hours of surveillance footage out of a total 295 hours recorded prior to her death. That footage was submitted as evidence in the ongoing civil case. According to the family's legal team, a separate request was made in February to disclose the entire archive of video footage. But on March 26, immigration authorities rejected the request, saying the footage contained information on 'security and safety measures' and its release could 'threaten public order.' The family plans to file a suit with the Tokyo District Court, seeking to overturn the nondisclosure decision. Translated by The Japan Times
