NAHA \u2014
The three-month detention of a prominent antibase activist in Okinawa over what his supporters call minor offenses has sparked cries of political oppression aimed at weakening local opposition to building new U. S. military facilities in the island prefecture.
On Friday, those supporting Hiroji Yamashiro submitted to the Naha District Court a letter 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.
\u201cCrackdowns on the peace movement by a military state have begun. I believe Mr. Yamashiro\u2019s arrest was politically motivated,\u201d Kamata said.
Earlier 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 within a U. S. military training area on Okinawa\u2019s main island, a project fiercely opposed by local residents and activists.
Fresh arrest warrants have since been served on him, with one of them alleging he obstructed base relocation work by piling up pieces of concrete in front of a gate to a Marine base in Nago where Futenma\u2019s replacement runway is to be built on partially reclaimed land.
The signature drive was organized by Kamata and other well-known figures, including nonfiction writer Hisae Sawachi, to demand the release of Yamashiro and a few others detained in connection with their opposition to base relocation and to call for the lifting of visitation restrictions imposed on them.
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