Nigerian dies in Japanese health centre after several days of hunger strike

Ilustrative Photo: Starving to death 

A Nigerian man detained at a Japanese immigration detention center has reportedly died after embarking on a hunger strike for several days to protest his lengthy detention.

The man, who was said to be in 40s died on Monday, June 24, 2019, in the southern city of Nagasaki after he lost consciousness. According to Reuters, a detention center official who declined to be identified did not give any reason for the death of the Nigerian man.

But RINK, a group supporting detainees at the detention center made it known that the Nigerian had been on hunger strike to protest his lengthy detention.

Reuters reports that the death of the Nigerian man was 15th death since 2006 in a system widely criticized over medical standards, the monitoring of detainees and how guards respond to a medical emergency in Japan. 

Another group supporting detainees said another 27 foreigners are on hunger strike at a detention center in Ushiku, northeast of Tokyo, Reuters reports. A spokeswoman for the group, Kimiko Tanaka said some of the detainees at the centre have gone without food for 47 days.

She said one of them, a 23-year-old Iranian man, who according to her sought asylum over two-years ago has lost weight and is now using a wheelchair, adding that there are two other men at the centre who have been detained for more than five years.She said, “The reality of a lengthy detention is nothing but a human rights violation,”

Confirming the claim about hunger strikers inn the Ushiku detention centre, an official at the national immigration agency said authorities are providing medical care and trying to persuade them to eat.