Description
News
- 【テーマ説明分：Racism in the Justice System】
2007.10.05
IMADR recognizes that minorities are often marginalized or victimized in the administration and functioning of the criminal justice system. Through the Sayama International Solidarity Campaign, and raising awareness of the CERD’s General Recommendation 31 on the prevention of racial discrimination in the administration and functioning of the criminal justice system, IMADR works toward the elimination of racism in the administration of justice in both Japan and around the world.
The Sayama Case
In May 1963, Kazuo Ishikawa, a man of Buraku origin (a caste-like Japanese minority) from the town of Sayama, north of Tokyo, was convicted and sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. After 32 years in prison, Ishikawa was released on probation in 1994. Since his conviction, three appeals for retrial have been submitted in an effort to clear his name. The first two appeals were rejected by the courts. The latest, filed on May 23, 2006, offers a rich body of new evidence supporting Ishikawa’s innocence.
The Sayama Case highlights fundamental problems with the Japanese criminal justice system, and makes clear the persistent discriminatory stereotyping of Buraku people. On the heels of the third appeal, IMADR, in solidarity with the Buraku Liberation League and the Citizen’s Support Group for the Sayama Case, launched the Sayama International Solidarity Campaign to help lobby for change in the criminal justice system and fight anti-Buraku discrimination. Visit the Sayama Case website to learn more.
