HIROSHIMA, June 20 Kyodo The Hiro...

HIROSHIMA, June 20 Kyodo

The Hiroshima District Court forward Thursday deiced not to punish an Afghan man indicted in succession a charge of illegal entrance into Japan despite finding him guilty, and hinted he be granted refugee status.

referee Hidenobu Konishi said, ''He should be approved as a refugee as he belongs to the Hazara ethnic cluster and is likely to face threats in Afghanistan owed to his ethnicity.''

The ruling is based onward a stipulation in the immigration law that grant immunity tos refugees from punishment even if they violate it.

Prosecutors demanded a one-year, six-month prison terminus for Abdul Aziz, 30 who allegedly recorded Japan in Fukuoka by using a fake passport last June

Since then, he worked as a secondhand car parts dealer around Yamaguchi Prefecture western Japan, before applying for refugee status in November.

His application was throw overboarded by immigration authorities, who said he had no agglomerated proof that he would face threats in Afghanistan.

He was held in a detention facility in Hiroshima Prefecture

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