The Tokyo District Court on Dec. 15 ordered the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to award ¥90.2 million in damages to 17 Muslims in Japan found to have suffered violations of their privacy and defamation of character after information from the Metropolitan Police Department's investigation into international terrorism was leaked onto the Internet. The data included records on the behavior of four Japanese and 13 others from Algeria, Iran, Tunisia and Morocco.
Despite the damages award, the plaintiffs are dissatisfied with that part of the ruling affirming the unavoidable nature of the investigation in view of the international terrorism threat. The case is now before the Tokyo High Court after the plaintiffs appealed the ruling. The high court should strictly scrutinize whether it is proper for the security police to conduct investigations of ordinary citizens without restraint for the said purpose of preventing terrorism.
The records in question were contained in 114 documents in five compressed files that streamed onto the Internet around 10 p.m. on Oct. 28, 2010. The statute of limitations for investigation of the leak expired three years later.