The Fukuoka District Court has suspended a deportation order for seven Chinese relatives of a war-displaced Japanese man from China, supporters of the seven said Saturday.
The court on Friday, however, turned down another request from the Chinese to suspend a detention order, the supporters said.
The Chinese plan to lodge an appeal against Friday's court approval of their detention with the Fukuoka High Court next Friday, at the earliest, they said.
Earlier this month, Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama rejected a request by the seven Chinese relatives of Tsuruji Inoue, 61, for permission to remain in Japan. Their request was rejected on the grounds they had entered Japan claiming to be Inoue's biological kin.
As a child, Inoue was left in China as a displaced person after Japan was defeated in World War II. He returned to Japan in 1983 with his ethnic Chinese wife and lives in Kumamoto Prefecture. The seven comprise Inoue's two stepdaughters, their husbands and children.
According to their supporters, the Fukuoka Regional Immigration Bureau had temporarily released six of the seven Wednesday. The only one still in detention was named as Ma Haoping, 46, husband of Guan Lifen, one of Inoue's stepdaughters.
Ma was transferred to an immigration facility in Omura, Nagasaki Prefecture, on Thursday, the supporters said.
The supporters accused immigration authorities of tying Ma's hands and legs when he was transferred to the Omura immigration center, saying it was inhumane.
On Tuesday, the seven Chinese relatives filed a suit with the Fukuoka District Court calling for a court order to overturn the deportation and detention decisions.