Disappearance of Japanese Believer Raises Fears Of Abduction and Forced
Religious Conversion
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(1888PressRelease) ICRF must sadly report that a new victim of abduction and
confinement is probably undergoing faith-breaking at this moment. Ms. N.I. has been
missing since January 3, when she went visit to visit her family at her grandmother's
house.
(1888PressRelease) A 34-year old Japanese woman missing since January 3 has likely
been abducted and is being held against her will to force her to abandon her religious faith,
the International Coalition for Religious Freedom (ICRF) reports. Ms. "N.I." is a member of
the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church (UC), thousands of whose members have
been victimized by relatives who confine them in secret locations as part of forced
conversion attempts.
A graduate of the law faculty at Meiji Gakuin University in 2000, Ms. N.I. has been missing
since January 3 of this year after failing to return from a visit to her grandmother's house.
She joined the UC, which remains highly controversial in Japan, in 1998. However, like
many Japanese Unificationists, she kept her affiliation secret, fearing job discrimination
and her family's disapproval. She informed her father about her church membership in
2007, when she quit her job to work full time for the church. He seemed supportive, but
she did not tell her mother about it until 2011.
"We suspect her parents were upset by her engagement to a Korean man, a fellow
Unificationist, whom she planned to marry in a church ceremony this spring," explained
ICRF president Dan Fefferman. "Unificationists often marry beyond racial or national
boundaries, and a significant number of these abductions result from Japanese parents
refusing to accept the right of a UC member to marry a foreigner."
A friend reported that on the morning of January 3, Ms. N.I. called her to say she was
going to visit her grandparents' house. At 6:30 p.m. that day, the friend received an e-mail
from N.I.'s cellphone saying, "Now I am in Mito [her parents' hometown] and cannot return
today. I am with my family."
Concerned for her safety and freedom, three church members visited her parents' home at
10:30 p.m. that day. Her sister answered the door and said, "My sister is not here. She
must be in her grandparents' house in Omiya City. Our parents are there, too. It's a family
issue. She is safe. Please go away."
In a related development, the international human rights organization Human Rights
Without Frontiers has issued an independent study confirming the fact that the Japanese
police and government have done little to protect the rights of Unificationists threatened
with forced conversion.
"The failure to provide the victims of such kidnappings with equal protection under the law,
and the impunity of those responsible, constitute a serious violation of the Japanese
people's constitutionally guaranteed rights and the international human rights standards to
which Japan is legally bound," stated Willy Fautre, director of the Brussels-based NGO
Human Rights Without Frontiers.
See www.hrwf.org/Joom/images/reports/2011/1231%20report%20final.pdf
(Out of respect for her privacy we are not releasing the current victim's full name, but
accredited researchers and law enforcement agencies may learn additional details by
contacting ICRF.)
http://www.religiousfreedom.com
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