Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Opponents to the state funeral of assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan on Wednesday and claimed that the funeral was unconstitutional and an infringement of people’s rights.

Abe was assassinated in July by a man whose family fortune had been donated by his mother to the cult known as the Unification Church. Abe had publicly supported the cult.

Masaki Goro, who represents lawyers opposed to so-called spiritual sales in Japan, said the followers of the Unification Church were taught that Abe was leading them to heaven.

“My concern is that Abe’s state funeral will be used as a pretext for unlawful acts by the cultists,” Goro said. “Every time this nation made a decision in elections, the followers of the cult took this as milestone in the battle between God and Satan.” 

Ken Takada, an anti-war activist opposed to Abe’s proposed amendments to Japan’s Peace Constitution, is planning to hold demonstrations the day before and the day of the funeral, Sept. 26 and 27.

“There is no legal basis to hold a state funeral,” he said. “So, we plan to mobilize the people in front of the Diet, the symbol of Japan’s Constitution. Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio only wants a state funeral to validate Abe’s policies. We should not tolerate taking advantage of people’s sympathy to promote Abe’s policies.”

Masaki Ina from International Christian University’s Peace Research Institute likened the unusual move to hold a state funeral to that of pre-war Japan.

“In pre-war Japan, the Emperor selected those who had performed great deeds for the nation to have a state funeral,” he stated. “State funerals were used to enhance state control and pro-war policies.” He added that there was no basis in law for a state funeral and moves to oppose it in parliament had been stopped by the government.

Ina said that six education boards had instructed schools to fly flags at half-mast for Abe and encouraged offering condolences, both of which, he says, violates the constitution.