Japanese Media Censor Statement about Human Rights Abuses of Religious Minorities
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A press release announcing that human rights advocates are calling on Japan to stop persecution and imprisonment of religious minorities was refused for distribution in Japan by K.K. Kyodo News Agency on November 11, 2010. The press release provides details about coordinated protests taking place in several major cities throughout the United States on November 16th to pressure Japanese officials to stop the abuse and discrimination of minority religious believers in that country.
Since 1966, more than 4,000 members of the Unification Church of Japan have been confined by their families and "deprogrammers" in an attempt to force them leave the religion which they, as adults, freely chose to join.
Currently, 10 to 20 Unificationists in Japan are abducted each year. Victims who escape their captors report the use of force, prison-like conditions, and intense pressure to change his or her faith. There have been reports of beatings, starvation, and rape.
"By refusing to report human rights abuses in their own country, the Japanese media are complicit in the cover-up being perpetrated by the Japanese government," said Dan Fefferman, President of the International Coalition for Religious Freedom. "This cover-up calls into question Japan's commitment to freedom of the press. It also calls into question other human rights abuses the Japanese media may be covering up in order to protect Japanese officials."
For more information on the Japan abduction issue: http://stopjapanabductions.org/
About ICRF
The International Coalition for Religious Freedom is a non-profit, non-sectarian, educational organization dedicated to defending the religious freedom of all, regardless of creed, gender or ethnic origin.
SOURCE International Coalition for Religious Freedom
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