Nigerian Dies In Japanese Detention Centre, After Hunger Strike

A Nigerian, yet-to-be-identified, has died in a Japanese immigration detention centre, bringing to an end a hunger strike an activist group said was intended to protest against his being held for more than three years, an official said, yesterday.
Sources said that his death was the 15th death since 2006 in a system widely criticised over medical standards, the monitoring of detainees and how guards respond to a medical emergency.
The man, in his 40s, died last Monday, in the southern city of Nagasaki after he lost consciousness and was taken to hospital, a detention centre official said.
He did not give a cause of death.
The RINK, a group supporting detainees at the centre, said the Nigerian had been on hunger strike to protest his lengthy detention.
Another 27 foreigners are on hunger strike at a detention centre in Ushiku, northeast of Tokyo, a separate group supporting detainees at that facility said.
Some of them have gone without food for 47 days, a spokeswoman for the group, Kimiko Tanaka, said.