Stop SDF’s illegal monitoring of the public
March 28, 2012
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2012 March 28 - April 3 [CIVIL RIGHTS]
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The Sendai District Court on March 26 ruled the Self-Defense Forces’ surveillance activities of the public as illegal information gathering in violation of “personal rights”.
Monitoring of citizens’ activities by the SDF intelligence security units became evident in June 2007 in internal documents Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo obtained. However, the government at that time denied the existence of such documents. This evolved into a lawsuit filed by citizens, charging that the SDF monitoring activities were illegal.
The documents obtained show that SDF agents infiltrated civil rallies and demonstrations opposing the SDF dispatch to Iraq, the proposed consumption tax hike, and the heavier burden being imposed on the general public for medical treatment. Workers’ annual spring wage rallies and even exhibitions of proletarian writer Kobayashi Takiji were subject to SDF surveillance. The documents also list the names of organizations, affiliated groups, and individuals, categorizing them as either sympathizers for the JCP or for the Democratic Party.
People have the “right to control how their personal information is used”. Unwarranted collection and storage of personal data is an attack on “personal rights”.
In this regard, the court decision, defining the SDF intelligence units’ monitoring activities as illegal, is significant.
The SDF monitoring activities, similar to those conducted by the pre-war and wartime military police, are intimidating and threatening the general public. It is a clear violation of the rights to freedom of speech and expression as well as freedom of thought and creed.
It is essential to immediately prohibit the SDF from unconstitutionally spying on citizens in order to not allow a repeat of the dark times in which the Imperial army placed everyone under surveillance.
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