OSAKA -- Immigration authorities in Osaka said Wednesday they will temporarily release two Afghan asylum seekers from a detention house in the city of Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture.
The two will be released after their supporters pay guarantee money, sources said.
According to the supporters, the two belong to Afghanistan's Hazara minority, who were persecuted by the now-ousted Taliban, the Islamic fundamentalist regime.
They applied for refugee status last year in Japan, but the Justice Ministry rejected their application and kept them in detention in Ibaraki, the supporters said.
The two, both men, filed a lawsuit with the Osaka District Court against the ministry and the Osaka immigration bureau, demanding the central government rescind the decision to reject their applications for refugee status.