NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. – The three-month detention of a prominent anti-base activist in Okinawa has sparked cries of political oppression aimed at weakening opposition to new U. S. military facilities in the prefecture.
On Friday, those supporting Hiroji Yamashiro submitted a letter to the Naha District Court calling for his release with the signatures of about 18,000 people from over 60 countries that were mainly collected online.
One of the organizers, writer Satoshi Kamata, said at a news conference the same day that he believes Yamashiro, who has led civic groups opposed to the relocation of U. S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within the prefecture, was arrested for political reasons.
“Crackdowns on the peace movement by a military state have begun. I believe Mr. Yamashiro’s arrest was politically motivated,” Kamata said.
Last Tuesday, a civic group organized by a former judge and others made a similar request with the local court with the signatures of about 40,000 people.
Yamashiro, the 64-year-old head of the Okinawa Peace Action Center, was arrested in October on suspicion of cutting barbed wire near the site of helicopter landing pad construction site within a U. S. military training area on Okinawa’s main island, a project fiercely opposed by local residents and activists.
