The Nagoya District Court overruled a government decision and ordered it to grant refugee status to a 36-year-old Syrian applicant who had refused to be drafted into his nation's military.
According to the ruling issued on May 9, the man asked the Syrian army for a deferment of his draft orders and later organized a rally criticizing the Syrian government.
He avoided being drafted, and he came to Japan in 2019 and applied for refugee status, but his application was denied.
The man then filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the decision, and the Nagoya court sided with him.
According to the man’s lawyer, it was the first time that a court has ordered the government to revoke such a decision and grant refugee status to a Syrian national.
The government had argued that in Syria, there is no unjustifiably heavy or arbitrary punishment for evading conscription.
But the ruling said that “evading military service is a crime in Syria and is likely to be regarded as a political or anti-government act by the Syrian government.”
The court concluded that the man’s situation falls under the category of “refugee” because “circumstances were found that would lead to the fear that the Syrian government might infringe on his life or physical liberty, or oppress him.”
by Wild_Ebb5097
