Fictional kids' book tells of Afghan detainee plight

His family murdered by the Taliban, an Afghan boy called Mohammed comes to Japan as a refugee because his father had always told him the country was a peaceful one.

Kensuke Onuki displays a picture book he authored to illustrate the plight of Afghan refugees.

But then Japanese immigration authorities detain him, ending his dream of going to school in Japan.

The story of Mohammed is told in a fictional picture book published this month by Kensuke Onuki, one of 28 lawyers representing nine Afghans currently detained in Japan on suspicion of illegal entry.

The nine men, who belong to ethnic minority groups opposed to the fallen Taliban regime, came to Japan between June and August and subsequently applied for refugee status.

Most of them have had relatives killed by the Taliban and have themselves suffered torture at the hands of the fundamentalist Islamic militia, according to Onuki.

"I wanted to explain in plain language about refugees and how inadequately they have been treated in Japan," the 42-year-old lawyer said.

Mohammed's character was pieced together from the real life stories of the nine Afghan refugees, Onuki said, adding that a staff member at his office illustrated the book, "A Story about Mohammed from Afghanistan."

The men were detained by immigration authorities on Oct. 3.

In November, the Tokyo District Court ordered that five of the men be released, saying their further detention would "violate their human rights and hamper their efforts to seek refugee status."

The four remaining Afghans had their release requests rejected the same month by a different district court judge.

In December, the five who were released were again detained after the Tokyo High Court overturned the lower court ruling to release them, prompting Onuki to write the book.

"I did not understand why the judges could not imagine how these Afghans felt when their family members were murdered and how painful it is for them to be detained in an unknown country," he said.

"So I thought I could explain such things by thinking of the judges as children."

The five Afghans who were released temporarily were diagnosed as having acute traumatic stress disorder due to their detention, while the other four are also believed to suffer ATSD, Onuki said.

He said he hopes even those who are not especially interested in refugees read the book and also that foreigners studying basic Japanese will read it.

The book depicts refugees, immigration authorities and the Taliban, and gives statistics about Afghan refugees.

It also includes two postcards -- addressed to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama -- asking that the Afghans be released and given refugee status.

Moriyama said in November that the nine Afghans entered Japan "presumably solely for the purpose of finding work . . . not to seek protection," adding there was little evidence to support claims they would be persecuted if they were sent home.

According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, about 370,000 people submitted applications for refugee status with seven Western-bloc industrialized nations last year, while those filed in Japan accounted for less than 1 percent of the total. At Narita airport, only two such applications were filed.