Japan Times: Leaked documents reveal Tokyo Police spies on Muslim residents, tries to make snitches of them

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Hi Blog.  In probably one of the most important developments of the year (thanks again to the Japan Times Community Page, consistently offering one great expose after another), we have actual substantiation of the Tokyo Police extending their racial profiling techniques to target Muslim residents of Japan.  Not only are they spying on them and keeping detailed files, they are trying to turn them against one another as if they’re all in cahoots to foment terrorism.

We all suspected as such (the very day I naturalized, I got a personal visit from Japan’s Secret Police asking me to inform on any Chinese overstayers I might happen to know; they said they read Debito.org — perhaps as assiduously as some of my Internet stalkers).  Now we have proof of it.  Shame, shame on a police force that has this much unchecked power.  Do I smell a return to Kenpeitai tactics?  Arudou Debito

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The Japan Times Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2010
THE ZEIT GIST
Muslims in shock over police ‘terror’ leak
Japan residents named in documents want explanation — and apology — from Tokyo police force

By DAVID McNEILL

This time last month, Mohamed Salmi says he was just another anonymous foreigner living and working in Japan. Today he fears his life here may be over, and receives phone calls from reporters asking him if he is an al-Qaida “terrorist.”

“I’ve no idea why they have picked on me,” says the Algerian, who has lived and worked in Japan for over 20 years and is married to a Japanese national. “My wife and I are still struggling to believe it.”

Salmi’s name was one of several released in extraordinary leaked documents from a counterterrorism unit of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Security Bureau. Listed as “terrorist suspects,” the men are Muslims who live and work here, in many cases for decades.

The documents, which have been obtained by The Japan Times, contain vast amounts of personal information, including birthplaces, home and work addresses, names and birthdays of spouses, children and associates, personal histories and immigration records. Even the names of local mosques visited by the “suspects” are included.

In most cases, the causes of the initial police suspicion appear to have simple explanations. Salmi’s former work as a travel agent placed him in contact with Arab students, businessmen and diplomats.

“I had a lot of ambassadors as clients,” says the 47-year-old, who now works for a Japanese construction company. “I can’t believe this is enough to put me on a list of suspects.”

Apparently released via file-sharing software, the files and the background on how they were compiled reveal that Japanese police, under pressure from U.S. authorities, trawled Tokyo in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, in search of intelligence data among the city’s tiny Muslim community. According to victims of the leak, in some cases the Security Bureau tried to recruit them as spies…

Rest of the article at
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20101109zg.html

6 comments on “Japan Times: Leaked documents reveal Tokyo Police spies on Muslim residents, tries to make snitches of them

  • If anyone wants to call the Tokyo Metropolitan Police for an explanation, here’s the number: 03-3501-0110

    They have translators on duty.

    Reply
  • Things like this are sad. People who are basically Japanese being treated like this just because they weren’t born here. :/

    When you have been living and working in a country for decades, and have a home, family and career, it is not hard to guess where your loyalties lay.

    Reply
  • Here is a portrait of a police agency at the top of their game, pulling off clandestine ops, recruiting spies, and rolling up potential terrorist conspiracies worthy of “Calvin and Hobbes.” Are these guys purposefully trying to look like bungling idiots? If so they are acing it. Wonder what percentage of the information they have gathered is actually correct.

    Which also implies that any “news agency” who uses this list and harasses those listed in it in an effort to get “hard news” is equally suspect of bungling idiocy.

    Reply
  • If the files were leaked through a “file-sharing software” as the article claims, then the blunder is a bit easier to understand. File-sharing software can scan your HDD and make the whole contents available to the Internet at large with just a few careless clicks.

    That said, this is in no way an excuse for gathering such sensitive information without any justifiable reason, and handling it so poorly on top of it. Dan Kirk is right, this really does make the NPA look like bungling idiots. Maybe they’re going by hoping that one of those stalked are actually terrorists and the world will pat them on the back for a job well done when they expose them. Hardly professional, I’d say.

    I wonder what the victims in all this can do to get justice. I doubt a written apology from the NPA would be enough.

    Reply
  • Whoa, you got a visit from Japan’s secret police? That’s frightening. Have you written a detailed article about that visit?

    — Well, I wrote that website entry I provided a link to. Does that count?

    Reply
  • Now in convenient book form!

    http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T101128002788.htm

    ‘MPD data’ book wreaks havoc / Foreign residents who had private info exposed express fear, anger
    The Yomiuri Shimbun (Nov. 29, 2010)

    People who saw their personal information published last week in a book containing what is believed to be police antiterrorism documents are expressing anger and fear over the fallout they could face.

    Many foreign residents had their photos and family members’ names revealed in the book, which some bookstores have removed from their shelves. It also carries personal information about investigators of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Security Bureau, as well as data on police informants.

    It has been about one month since the suspected leak came to light, but the MPD has yet to confirm the data belongs to the department, only saying it is still verifying the validity of the documents. The police have not taken any action, such as requiring the publisher to stop sales of the book.

    Experts have called on the MPD to quickly admit the data is real and take action.

    Published by Tokyo publishing house Dai-San Shokan, the 469-page book is titled “Ryushutsu ‘Koan Tero Joho’ Zen Deta” (Leaked police terrorism info: all data) and hit the shelves Thursday.

    The book carries the names, photos and addresses of foreign residents who have apparently been subject to MPD investigations, as well as those of MPD bureau investigators in charge of international terrorism.

    An African man living in the Kanto region whose photo and family members’ names were carried in the book said: “After the documents were leaked online, a disease I’ve had for a long time got worse because of the stress. I’m shocked the information became a book so soon. I was just trying to forget about it.”

    Another foreign resident of Tokyo said his home telephone number was carried in the book. “The publishing company didn’t contact me in advance. Now that the information’s in a book–not just on the Internet–I wonder what’ll happen to me and my family?” he said.

    The book is on sale in Tokyo bookstores and via other channels, but some retailers have voluntarily decided not to sell copies. The Shinjuku branch of Kinokuniya Co. put 60 copies on sale Saturday morning, only to take it off the shelves when it realized the contents were inappropriate, but not before several copies had been sold.

    MPD making no progress

    The MPD did not notice the leak until Oct. 29 when it received a tip from a private telecommunications firm. Since then, the MPD’s position has been that it is verifying whether the data found online were in fact internal documents.

    The MPD is stuck, because if it admits internal information was leaked, it will likely lose the trust of foreign authorities, according to a senior MPD official. One document contains an apparent request by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation for cooperation in investigations.

    The entire MPD is involved in the investigation into the leak–not only the Public Security Bureau but also the Personnel and Training Bureau, which investigates scandals involving police officers, and the Administration Bureau, which is in charge of information control.

    A former senior official of the Public Security Bureau said “the data is absolutely the bureau’s internal documents” and includes top secret items. The data was leaked onto the Internet through a server in Luxembourg, making it difficult for investigators to track where it originated. The MPD has asked the company operating the server for cooperation, but it has yet to be given any communications records.

    The MPD maintains it is unable to take any action against the publisher because it has not officially confirmed the data came from the organization.

    Police appear to be divided on how to handle the problem. Some say the MPD should never admit a leak occurred, but others believe they should admit at least part of the documents are internal and take necessary action as soon as possible.

    The data has continued to spread online across the globe via file-sharing software. NetAgent Co., a Tokyo private information security firm, said as of Thursday, the data had been downloaded onto 10,285 computers in 21 countries and regions.

    ENDS

    Reply

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