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TOUR
LOGBOOK
15 May 2000 - Personal account of the visit to the four jailed activists
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Today
much of the day was spent preparing the Japanese press for the
national stories around the world and visiting the prisoners in
their four separate jails scattered around the city. So visiting
them took most of the day even in two teams! I personally visited
Clement, Marleen and Paul, along with crew members from the ship.
Colin from the ship visited Al Baker.
Take
action to help us free the activists here
View pictures of the world-wide
protest |
The repressive
Daiyo Kangoku system which allows police to take persons into custody
for up to 23 days without charging them, while they gather evidence, is
indeed an ugly one that seems designed to create a form of psychological
wearing down of the spirits and rationality of those in custody.
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Our
friends are all in good spirits despite the various forms of stresses
or boredom they are subjected to. Marleen seems to have the worst
situation of all. The Japanese system for some reason treats women
the most harshly. She complained of having to sit in a bare room
with lights on day and night. Unable to wash, unable to speak English
to anyone, unable to get vegetarian food and, until today, unable
to read anything. |
Fortunately
today we made progress in getting them all reading material. Also, it
seems that the cell-mates are all very friendly in every case although
language is a problem. All of the food is very bad but seems to differ
from cell to cell. Paul is only getting rice and water. Paul and Clement
are in very good spirits complaining primarily about the food. Al is
on a hunger strike and seems tired. He had to put up with a whole day
of being dragged around Tokyo in a bus chained up with other prisoners
from around Tokyo on the way to court and back.
They were
all very excited to hear of the actions around the world on their behalf.
It will be great to show them the pictures later.
Read about
NGO's and direct action in Japan
For more info on the legal system in Japan visit Amnesty's
page on Japan
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updates from the Tour Logbook
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