TOKYO - A Japanese court on Friday refused refugee status for four Turkish Kurds, opening the way for them to be sent to Turkey where they say they fear torture.
The case comes a month after Japan, which rarely takes in refugees or immigrants, defied the United Nations by deporting two other Kurds to Turkey.
Erdal Dogan, 31, said the court decision Friday against him and three other Kurds, who were not named, was influenced by the Japanese government's close ties to Turkey.
"The ruling was really unjust and regrettable," said Dogan, who has remained in Japan since 1999 through temporary stays on his deportation.
"There has been no single good day since I arrived in Japan ... as we lived in constant stress," Dogan told reporters.
Takeshi Ohashi, a lawyer for the Kurds, said his clients would appeal the court ruling and accused Japanese authorities of blindly believing Turkish officials who deny rights abuses.
"It is very thoughtless to judge by listening only to what the other government says," the lawyer said.
Dogan staged a 72-day sit-in with his wife, two children, and another family up to September last year to demand refugee status.
But two members of the other family -- Ahmet Kazankiran, 49, and his 20-year-old son Ramazan -- were deported to Turkey in January despite being recognized as refugees by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The UNHCR criticized the deportation.
"The deportation is unprecedented and contrasts with Japan's humanitarian assistance towards refugees and disaster victims abroad," a UNHCR statement said last month.
Zeliha, 21-year-old daughter of Kazankiran, said Friday: "Japan is very severe towards not only Kurdish refugee but also other refugees."
The Japanese government counters that the Kurds do not have reason to fear persecution in Turkey and that Kazankiran had created a media storm over his case by falsely presenting himself as a person at risk.
Japan accepted only 10 persons as refugees in 2003 and has never accepted a Turkish Kurd as a refugee.
02/25/2005 10:32 GMT - AFP