Human Rights Victim Recounts Abduction and Torture to Religious Scholars

12 Years of Confinement and Starvation Ignored by Japanese Government

TURIN, Italy, Sept. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mr. Toru Goto, who has become an icon of religious persecution, traveled to Turin, Italy to speak to more than 150 scholars at the annual conference of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR) to detail his terrifying experience of kidnap and torture at the hands of religious deprogrammers in Japan. The conference was held at the University of Turin.

CESNUR is the world's premier gathering of scholars dedicated to the study of new religions and religious minorities. During a panel on "Deprogramming in Japan," Mr. Goto described his false imprisonment while so-called faith-breakers abused him for more than 12 years.

Following are excerpts of his remarks:

• "It was almost exactly 15 years ago, September 11, 1995, when I was back at my parents' home in Tokyo, I was suddenly surrounded by a number of people and pushed into a van, which drove me to an apartment arranged for the confinement. At that time I was 31 years old."

• "In the apartment, I was forced to receive daily doses of abusive language against the church and its founder. Anytime I refuted them, they called me "Idiot! Stupid! Evil!" and so on.  My mental pain was beyond description and I felt like dying.

"During the detention, I frequently attempted escape, even attempting to force my way out, but each time I was overpowered by physical violence.

"After eight years had passed in detention, I made up my mind to demonstrate my resistance by hunger strikes. I planned to do this indefinitely; however, owing to fear for my life, I gave up fasting on the 30th day.

"However, they retaliated by providing me with punishingly small amounts of foods, like liquid meals, for almost two years after the hunger strike ended. I kept complete starvation away by secretly eating kitchen scraps."

• "I was in the state of extreme malnutrition, not as a result of my fastings but due to the prolonged meal punishment for two years after the fastings.

"After 12 years and 5 months had passed in detention, suddenly, my family cruelly threw me out of the apartment with no money and nothing but the clothes on my back.  I was already 44 years old at that time.

"In this way, I was eventually set free, and returned to the Unification Church."

• "I filed criminal charges against those involved in my confinement.

"The police and the prosecution office, however, did not arrest a single person, nor did they even obtain warrants to search for evidence.

"And on December 9th last year, the Public Prosecutor's Office decided, quite incredibly, not to indict the accused. I cannot accept such a conclusion!"

Over the past 40 years, an estimated 4,300 members of the Unification Church have been subjected to similar criminal practices. Ten to 20 Unification Church members are currently abducted each year in Japan to undergo forced de-conversions. In the month of August two more victims went missing while visiting Japan.  

"Deprogramming is a kind of spiritual rape involving kidnapping, false imprisonment, and a fundamental abuse of the human right to religious freedom," said Mr. Goto.

He concluded with an appeal to the scholars at CESNUR to conduct objective research on the issue of religious kidnappings and appeal to the Japanese government to crack down on the crimes.

In the United States, American citizens are being encouraged to sign a petition for Congress to hold hearings on human rights violations in Japan. Specifically, the hearing would be held by the Tom Lantos Commission on Human Rights, co-chaired by Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA).  

For more information on the Japan abduction issue: http://stopjapanabductions.org/

About ICRF        

The International Coalition for Religious Freedom is a non-profit, non-sectarian, educational organization dedicated to defending the religious freedom of all, regardless of creed, gender or ethnic origin.

SOURCE International Coalition for Religious Freedom