The Tokyo District Court ruled Friday in favor of a 24-year-old Thai woman who had been issued a deportation order by immigration authorities, saying she should have been provided with an interpreter.
Presiding Judge Toshihiko Tsuruoka said the authorities' action was illegal because the woman had no access to a proper interpreter and was forced to sign papers giving her consent to the deportation without fully determining what she wanted.
He said the woman was also not informed of her right to a hearing to challenge the deportation order.
The woman, who lives in Tokyo, had earlier asked the same court to suspend the deportation order and had won.
In November 2002, the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau detained the woman for violating the immigration law.