Jimu news reporter Li Lili
"She went to Japan to teach English lessons, but she didn't expect to teach a lesson to the Japanese immigration system herself." According to CNN, a Sri Lankan woman, Wishma Rathnayake, traveled to Japan to study and died 7 months after being held in a Japanese detention center due to an expired visa. CNN said she was "treated like an animal" before she died.
Image source: CNN
According to the New York Times, she had a high fever at first, and soon had to swallow water and bread barely, and it was difficult to speak. However, when she repeatedly requested to go to the hospital, she was rejected by Japanese immigration officials. Japanese authorities thought she was pretending to be sick. On March 6, Ratnayake, 33, ended up dying alone in a Japanese cell.
Ratnayake's case made headlines in Japan, where 27 foreigners whose visas expired have died in Japanese detention centers since 1997.
Go to Japan to pursue dreams but lose your soul in detention
Wisma Ratnayak is a Sri Lankan who was fascinated as a child by the Japanese TV series Ashin. "Ashin" became popular in the 1980s, telling the story of Japanese girl Ashin struggling, struggling and starting a business in order to survive. "Ashin" also became synonymous with female entrepreneurs who were all the rage at the time.
Influenced by "Ashin", Ratnayak has longed for Japan since she was a child, and she actively studied Japanese and dreamed of living in Japan.
In 2017, Ratnayake, 29, persuaded his family that he could make a living teaching English in Japan. Her family mortgaged the house and sent her to Japan.
Ratnayak came to Narita, Japan on a student visa.
Ratnayak was 29 when she arrived in Narita, and pictures of tourist attractions and studies flooded her Facebook, and everything looked normal. Her two sisters, Varomi and Ponima, are far away in Sri Lanka and care about their sister's Japanese life through Facebook.
Ratnayak (center) and her two sisters Image credit: CNN
What they didn't know, however, was that ratnayak was expelled from school in May 2018 and subsequently worked at a factory through which she applied to remain in Japan.
In January 2019, Ratnayak's application was rejected by the Japanese government and she became an illegal immigrant.
In August 2020, Ratnayak traveled to the Shizuoka Prefectural Police Department for help, asking to leave her partner at the time. According to the police station, she admitted that her visa had expired at the time and that she wanted to go to the Nagoya Local Immigration Department, but there was no money.
In March 2021, when Sri Lankan family members first learned of Ratnayak's troubles, the Sri Lankan Embassy in Tokyo called to inform them that "she is dead.".
Two months later, her sisters traveled to Japan in search of truth and justice.
Ratnayake's sister in Tokyo on May 18 Image source: CNN
In the detention center, she was treated like an animal
Ratnayake was imprisoned for 7 months at the Nagoya Regional Immigration Department, and she was sharply weakened and lost 40 pounds.
When her sister Bonima saw her, Ratnayak lay in the coffin, and she could no longer recognize her. "Her skin was crumpled like an old man's and looked miserable." Desperate to find out what was happening, Ponima asked to see surveillance video of the last two weeks of Ratnayake's life, which was rejected by Japanese authorities.
After several negotiations, in August this year, Ratnayak's sister finally got the video material, and only two hours of surveillance video were edited for two weeks. The video broke the hearts of the two sisters.
The video shows Ratnayake falling from bed, milk flowing from her nostrils, and guards laughing at the side. She called for help many times, but no one paid any attention to her...
In October, they were given longer, unedited video clips.
The video shows the staff feeding Ratnayak, but she can't eat anymore. The day before her death, no one noticed anything unusual, and no one called the ambulance.
CNN reported on the video as saying "she was treated like an animal."
After Ratnayak's death came to light, the Japan Immigration Service admitted that the Nagoya Regional Immigration Service did not provide proper medical care to Ratnayak. Japan's Minister of Justice and Director General of the Immigration Service apologized.
People marched in Tokyo on May 16 to protest the immigration system. Image source: CNN
People with expired visas or illegal entry have been detained for several years
According to the Japan Immigration Service's investigation into the matter, Ratnayake complained of stomach pain and other symptoms in the months leading up to his death.
She underwent medical tests such as urinalysis, blood tests and chest X-rays to determine the cause, the report said.
However, on the day of her death, staff did not call an ambulance even as her condition deteriorated.
Ratnayake had been working with immigration authorities in the months leading up to her death, but her attitude changed when she decided she wanted to stay in Japan, the report said. Because she was told that if she fell ill, she could be temporarily released (note: temporary release allows detainees to live in the community while awaiting deportation).
Once healthy Ratnayake Image source: CNN
Matsui, head of start, a Japanese nonprofit, dismissed the claim, saying he urged officials in January to either take Ratnayak to hospital or release her temporarily so their group could help take care of her. In February, they made another request, but these requests were rejected for no reason.
Yoichi Kinoshita, a former Japanese immigration official, said people in the detention center may think Ratnayake was pretending to be sick or exaggerating symptoms because she wanted to be released sooner.
Letters written by Ratnayak during his detention mentioned difficulties in eating and drinking. Image source: The New York Times
Ratnayake's case sparked a thousand waves and sparked the wrath of critics of Japan's immigration system. They say Ratnayake is a victim of the country's opaque and capricious bureaucracy, and that Japan has little unchecked power over foreigners who violate the system.
According to The New York Times, most decisions about illegal immigration in Japan's immigration system are made "in secret." Migrants have little chance of going to court.
Those with expired or illegal entry may be detained indefinitely, sometimes for several years. Immigrants who have made asylum claims, as Ratnayake once did, are particularly unpopular.
Japan, the world's third-largest economy, offers placements to less than 1 percent of asylum seekers, up from 47 last year.
In 2019, after a hunger strike in all 198 people detained by Japanese immigrants, human rights groups called for a ban on arbitrary detention by the Japanese Immigration Authority and related legal reforms.
According to the Japan Refugee Lawyers Network, 27 migrants have died in detention centers since 1997.
For more exciting information, please download the "Jimu News" client in the application market, please do not reprint it without authorization, welcome to provide news clues, and pay as soon as you adopt it. 24-hour reporting hotline 027-86777777.