Wayomi Sandamali, left, and Poornima Sandamali meet with opposition lawmakers in the Diet on May 19. (Koichi Ueda)
The stubborn refusal of immigration officials to release video of a Sri Lankan woman who died while in detention is raising suspicions among her bereaved sisters and opposition lawmakers about a cover-up.
Wayomi and Poornima Sandamali met with opposition lawmakers on May 19 to discuss the death of their elder sister, Wishma, 33. She died on March 6 while detained at a facility run by the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau.
“The immigration agency may be hiding something if it is unable to release the video,” one of the sisters said.
The death of a Sri Lankan woman at an immigration detention facility in March has become a rallying cry as the Diet discusses a government-drafted bill to revise the immigration law.
The Justice Ministry’s Immigration Services Agency of Japan investigated the incident and released an interim report on April 9, shortly before the start of the Diet’s discussion on the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law.
But the report apparently omitted the fact that a psychiatrist recommended that Wishma Sandamali receive provisional release two days before her death.
Opposition lawmakers have taken issue with the omission, demanding a full accounting of how the woman died in detention.