Japan Press Weekly

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2017 May 10 - 16 [POLITICS]

Victims of police surveillance speak at rally to oppose ‘anti-conspiracy bill’

A rally to oppose the “anti-conspiracy bill” took place on May 9 in the Diet building. Victims of police surveillance spoke about their experiences, saying that if the bill is enacted, it would create innocent victims. The rally was organized by lawyers’ groups opposing the bill.

Funada Nobuko talked about how the police in Gifu Prefecture kept tabs on citizens who arranged study meetings focusing on the issue of the planned construction of a wind power farm. She explained that the police collected detailed personal information on those who organized the meetings and their friends, including Funada. The audience expressed their surprise and anger when she stated that the police even shared the collected data with a subsidiary of Chubu Electric Power Company, the promoter of the wind power project.

Lawyer Fukuda Kenji reported about a scandal where the Metropolitan Police Department collected private information on Muslims living in Tokyo on the pretext of terrorism prevention. This incident came to light after internal police documents were leaked on the Internet. According to the documents, the stored data included targeted individuals’ names, addresses, photos, bank account information, and other confidential information. Fukuda stressed, “Such discriminatory mass surveillance is not only inappropriate and ineffective but also harmful in preventing terrorism. This is internationally accepted understanding.”

Japan Civil Liberties Union Representative Director Serizawa Hitoshi noted that the anti-conspiracy bill will not only “pose a risk” of human rights infringement but will “certainly cause” infringement. He said, “It is incumbent upon us to oppose the bill. The bill must be discarded.”

The rally was joined by lawmakers from the Japanese Communist Party, Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party, and Okinawa Whirlwind. JCP member of the House of Representatives Fujino Yasufumi delivered a speech.

Past related article:
> Citizens sue Gifu Police for its illegal collection of their personal information [December 22, 2016]