[Presumably for 'high political' reasons not unconnected with relations
with the US embassy in Tokyo, the Japanese justice ministry has found a
'technical' reason to delay accepting Fischer's asylum application]

***BEGIN ARTICLE***

Technicality delays Bobby Fischer asylum application

Updated 10:33am (Mla time) Aug 04, 2004
Agence France-Presse

TOKYO, Japan -- Fugitive US chess master Bobby Fischer's application for
asylum in Japan has been delayed due to a technicality, his lawyer said
Tuesday.

The justice ministry "did not accept our documents, saying that his name
was not written on the back of his photos," Masako Suzuki, the lawyer
representing Fischer, told AFP.

Suzuki said she would refile the necessary documents Wednesday, along
with an application for Fischer's temporary release while he appeals
against deportation.

Fischer, 61, has been held by Japanese immigration authorities at Narita
airport since July 13 while they decide whether to deport him to the
United States.

Washington has sought to arrest Fischer since 1992 when he defeated
Boris Spassky in the former Yugoslavia in defiance of an international
embargo on the country at the time. He scooped up more than three
million dollars in prize money.

Fischer, who became an American hero for wresting the world chess crown
from Soviet domination during the Cold War, faces up to 10 years in
prison if convicted.

He was stopped from boarding a flight to the Philippines on an
immigration law violation, for using a passport which US officials said
had been revoked.

Suzuki said the immigration bureau would almost certainly accept the
corrected application.

"It would be extremely unusual for Japan to deport someone who is filing
for refugee status," she said.

Suzuki said Fischer would also request the authorities to improve his
conditions at the detention facility where the outspoken chess master is
being held in a room with no natural light and no opportunity to
exercise.

"He has not seen any sunlight since he was detained. He is mentally and
physically exhausted," she said.

Fischer on Monday lodged a second appeal against deportation with
Japan's justice minister.

His first appeal, filed within the immigration bureau at Narita, was
rejected last week.

***END ARTICLE***

--
banana "The thing I hate about you, Rowntree, is the way you
give Coca-Cola to your scum, and your best teddy-bear to
Oxfam, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers for the
rest of your frigid life." (Mick Travis, 'If...', 1968)