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Beginning in the Meiji period, the government of the Empire of Japan detained Japanese suspected of political dissidence. Political prisoners in Imperial Japan were released as a result of the fall of the Empire of Japan after World War II, and the policies of the Allied occupation of Japan. ==Meiji period – Shōwa period== During the Meiji Period, the government took steps to suppress socialism, and labor movements in Imperial Japan. In response to Prime Minister Taro Katsura's orders to destroy all subversive literature and to arrest anyone who publicly advocated socialism, the police broke up a demonstration by some of Kotoku Shusui's followers. They were carrying flags inscribed with the words "anarchism" and "anarchist communism". Known as the Red Flag Incident, fourteen received two-year prison sentences. The police made many arrests and administrative detentions during the Rice riots. In 1925, the Peace Preservation Law was passed. Article 1 of the law stipulates that: "Anyone who organises an association with the objective of change the ''kokutai'' or denying the private property system, or who joins such an association with full knowledge of its objectives, shall be liable to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding ten years."The Peace Preservation Law was revised over the years. In the 1928 revision, the death penalty was added to the Peace Preservation Law. Only about 5,000 out of more than 740,00 suspected violators of the Peace Preservation Law between 1928 and 1941 were prosecuted. Police frequently pressured suspects by detaining them over and over without formal charges. Some were held in this way for as long as two years. Those who recanted were either released or received short prison terms. Kyoharu Tanaka, who was arrested in 1934, denounced communism while in prison but remained in prison until 1941. Manabu Sano, arrested in 1933, denounced the communist movement from his prison cell but was not freed until 1943. Sadachika Nabeyama, sentenced to life imprisonment in 1932, denounced the communist movement in 1933 while in prison. In 1934, his sentence was reduced to fifteen-year imprisonment, but he was released on an imperial amnesty in 1940. The prisoners had been confined for years in fetid jails from the southwestern tip of Japan to the northernmost home island of Hokkaido, dubbed "Japan's Siberia". Tokyo newspapers in October 1945 reported the prison deaths of several of these political prisoners. Tokuda Kyuichi, when interviewed by Domei just before release from prison, said that two hundred had died from undernourishment and mistreatment in prison.〔Unconditional Democracy: Education and Politics in Occupied Japan, 1945–1952 By Toshio Nishi Page 94〕 There were political prisoners who died before they could be released. Japanese Communist Party leader Shoichi Ichikawa died in Miyagi penitentiary in March 1945 from "senility" following "pneumonia". Intellectual Jun Tosaka died in Nagano prison on 9 August. Philosopher Kiyoshi Miki died as a result of maltreatment. Yoshio Shiga survived prison, but was so severely mistreated that he emerged from prison deaf and half blind.〔Maoism in the Developed World By Robert Jackson Alexander Page 171〕 The prisoners termed their treatment cruel. One was quoted as saying "We were in solitary confinement all the time." It was reported in October 1945 that the sixteen political prisoners freed from Fuchu Prison appeared to have been well fed. Another report states that those released were emaciated, and many of them weighed less that 75 lb. Some of them were branded with irons and tattooed. Kyuichi Tokuda, was quoted as saying "I, myself was branded at Abashiri prison, and lost the use of my right arm as a result." Chief Warden Kogoe, of Sugamo prison, was reported that he would hang, kick, torture and beat inmates. Prisoners named Chief Warden Ozawa, named "The Viper", of Toyatama prison of killing Professor Miki. In many cases, suspects were tortured to death by third-degrees practices. Tokuda was quoted as saying "I do not know how many have been killed by prison guards". Tokuda Kyuichi, Yoshio Shiga, and Shiro Mitamura, still in Fuchu Prison, claimed that when ever one of the members of the Communist underground in Japan during the war was caught, his entire family was imprisoned. Communist prisoners in Fuchu Prison wrote several documents in prison, including "Appeal to the People", which was issued after their release on 10 October 1945.〔Revolution and Subjectivity in Postwar Japan By J. Victor Koschmann Page 28〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Political prisoners in Imperial Japan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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