Waving banners and banging tambourines, hundreds of Japanese took to the streets of Tokyo to protest a strict new state-secrets law that took effect yesterday, which critics said would help conceal government misdeeds and limit press freedom.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration said the law, which was passed a year ago amid protests, is essential to convince allies led by the US to share intelligence with Japan.
Critics said that whistleblowing on government misdeeds would be chilled and Reporters Without Borders called the law “an unprecedented threat to freedom of information.”
Photo: EPA
“This terrible law must be revoked, but at least if we keep on protesting the government won’t be able to do whatever it wants,” said Yumi Nakagomi, 59, one of several hundred people braving frigid winds to gather near Abe’s office yesterday. “If we give up on this Japan will end up just like Russia, or China, or North Korea.”
The law mandates prison terms of up to 10 years for public servants or others leaking state secrets, while journalists and others who encourage such leaks could be imprisoned for five years. Kyodo news agency said that about 460,000 documents would be affected immediately.
“The law says that the act of leaking itself is bad no matter what the circumstances,” said Yukiko Miki, director of information at Clearinghouse Japan, a non-profit organization that promotes information disclosure.
Two watchdog groups are to oversee implementation of the law, one directed by Abe.
“By applying the law practically and properly, explaining carefully how it is being applied, and reporting to parliament and making public how it is being enforced, the government plans to show clearly that the people’s right to know will not be infringed on,” Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko said.
Critics say Abe failed to keep a pledge to win public understanding of the law by not fully explaining how it would be implemented.
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