Supporters of detainees who staged a nearly two-week hunger strike at the Tokyo immigration center criticized immigration authorities on Thursday and urged Japan to respect the human rights of detainees.

The bureau should restrict prolonged or consecutive detentions, Mitsuru Miyasako, director of the Provisional Release Association in Japan, said at a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo. The hunger strike at the Tokyo immigration center in Shinagawa Ward ended Tuesday.

According to Miyasako, up to about 70 detainees — including people of Iranian, Turkish and Vietnamese descent — refused to eat their meals and demanded that Japan revise its policies on extended or consecutive detentions.