In a reversal, the Tokyo High Court determined Monday that the government was not responsible for the 2010 death of a Ghanaian allegedly subjected to excessive force by immigration authorities while being deported.
In overturning a lower court's ruling, presiding Judge Izumi Takizawa said the level of physical force used by officials to restrain Abubakar Awudu Suraj, who was 45 years old at the time of his death, was "not illegal" and even "necessary."
"Immigration authorities' effort to subdue him was necessary to ensure his deportation would go smoothly," Takizawa said.