Ex-journalist loses appeal over secret U.S. deal in '71

[rumpel]

Source: Asahi Shinbun

02/21/2008
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by a former reporter seeking compensation for the government's denials of a secret Japan-U.S. deal over the 1972 reversion of Okinawa.

Takichi Nishiyama demanded 33 million yen in damages, saying the central government defamed his honor and caused mental anguish by continuing to deny the existence of the secret deal made during the 1971 negotiations over the reversion treaty.

Nishiyama, 76, then with The Mainichi Shimbun, broke the story about the secret deal in 1971, but he was later found guilty of conspiracy under a law regulating the behavior of central government employees. A Foreign Ministry source leaked information to Nishiyama that served as the basis for his story.

Nishiyama's appeal was based on revelations in recent years through U.S. documents and testimony by a former high-ranking Foreign Ministry official that a secret deal did in fact exist, under which Japan would shoulder $4 million in costs related to the return of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty.

Read more: http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200802200435.html

[Jack Rabbit]

1. "The truth is not a defense"

That's the motto of Orwellian law.