admin 11 February 2011 General 3 Comments  Email This Post

Map of Japan

Reports reveal that Japanese police have been conducting a close surveillance of the Muslim community living in the East Asian country.

Internal police documents leaked onto the Internet indicate that Japanese law enforcement has been collecting detailed personal information about Muslims living in Japan, a Press TV correspondent reported on Wednesday.

The information has also been shared with the US government at the request of American authorities under the pretext of anti-terrorism cooperation.

A Japanese Muslim man said that two police officers watched him every Friday as he went to the mosque for Friday prayers.

Professor Akira Usuki, who is one of Japans’ most respected scholars on the Arab world, has criticized the Islamophobia that is rampant “not among people but among Japanese police and establishment.”

“Generally speaking, the Japanese police watch the Muslims carefully and they gather information about them in a daily life. I doubt the Japanese government will need such information,” Usuki said.

Although Japan may not be the first nation that comes to mind when one thinks about the issue of Islamophobia, the subjective view seems to have penetrated even to this far corner of East Asia.

There are more than 100,000 Muslims that live and practice their faith in Japan.

MA/MRS/MB

Original post: Japanese police keep watch on Muslims