May 17, 2021 (Japan Times) - The family of a Sri Lankan woman who died after being detained for overstaying her student visa visited an immigration facility in Aichi Prefecture on Monday to hear from officials about the circumstances leading up to her death.
Ratnayake Liyanage Wishma Sandamali, 33, who was being held at the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau in the prefecture, died on March 6 after having complained of stomach pain and other symptoms from mid-January.
Her death, which activists blame on a failure to provide appropriate medical attention, has been cited as evidence of problems riddling Japan’s immigration and asylum system, particularly with regard to the indefinite detention of foreign nationals facing deportation.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with the facility’s head, the family said they felt as if the immigration agency was “running away from the truth.”
The officials offered condolences and said they viewed Wishma’s death as a serious issue but did not give “convincing answers,” the family’s lawyer, who accompanied them, said.
The family also visited the single-person cell where Wishma was held, describing it as “small and as if for an animal.”
Wishma was detained in August last year at the Nagoya facility for overstaying her visa. The Justice Ministry did not determine the cause of her death in an interim report on the incident released April 9.
