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Cause of SL student’s death in Japan still unknown

26 May 2021

  • Immigrant rights activists urge independent probe

By Pamodi Waravita   The post-mortem examination conducted in Japan on Wishma Rathnayake – the Lankan student who died in a detention centre in Nagoya, Japan on 6 March – had said that the cause of death is still under investigation. This is according to a volunteer at the START organization that works closely with immigrants in detention centres Akemi Mano, who told The Morning yesterday (26) that the final report would be released by the Department of Justice only in July. “However, most of her supporters don’t hold much hope about the report as the interim report released by the Department of Justice accused Rathnayake of lying about her illness to the authorities in order to get released from the centre. The Department of Immigration handles the detention centres so we feel that an independent body must conduct the investigation,” said Mano. Mano had first met Rathnayake in December 2020, almost four months after she had been detained for overstaying her student visa, which had been reportedly revoked in 2018 when she had been unable to pay her tuition fees. She was arrested in August 2020 by Japanese Immigration officials when she had sought the help of the authorities to escape from an alleged violent domestic situation involving another Sri Lankan, a male. He was reported to be an intimate partner of Rathnayake’s and, according to Mano, had also been held in a detention centre but had subsequently been given provisional release according to news that Mano had heard.   “It was hard to even look at Rathnayake during her latter days. She could not talk because she was dehydrated, and at one point, she was in a wheelchair and carried a bucket with her because she threw up whatever she ate or drank. Although I repeatedly informed the authorities at the detention centre that she needed serious medical intervention, they regarded me as an enemy because I was helping her,” claimed Mano. Mano further claimed that Rathnayake had been very talented at languages, and had even taught her Sinhalese through her letters. Two months after the death of Rathnayake, the Japanese Government shelved the submission of its controversial immigration Amendment Bill that would have changed the country’s existing Immigration laws. It is reported that Rathnayake’s family members were due to meet the Justice Minister of Japan on 18 May. Ministry of Justice officials in Sri Lanka told The Morning that as of yesterday, this matter had yet to be brought under their purview. All attempts to contact Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the matter proved futile.

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