Acting with uncharacteristic speed, the Justice Ministry bundled a Kurdish father and his son, both U.N.-recognized refugees, onto a plane and sent them back to Turkey on Tuesday, a day after they visited the Immigration Bureau to extend their provisional release.
Cries and screams broke out in a room at the Tokyo Bar Association as the message came through that Ahmet Kazankiran, 48, and his eldest son, Ramazan, 20, had been forced onto the plane. The news was received during a press conference held by the remaining members of the deportees' family and another Kurd family facing deportation, and supporters and one of their lawyers.
The pair won recognition last summer during a sit-in outside United Nations University to protest their plight.