DESERTERS" MEET WITH SYMPATHY IN JAPAN
The four U.S. navy men, John M. Barilla, Richard D. Bailey, Michael A. Lindner and Craig W, Anderson, who desert~ ed the aircraft carrier Intrepid while it was in Yokosuka, caused a considerable stir in Japan.
Their act of protest against the U.S. role in Vietnam met with wide popular sympathy.
But the Japanese police, in response to a demand from the U.S. auchorities, began searching for the four.
This touched off a controversy over the refusal of the Japanese governwent to grant political asylum to the four opponents of Johnson's course. The Asahi Bvening News pointed out in an editorial November 15 that “persons seeking asylum in Japan are all considered violators of the emigration and immigration control ordinance, either as illegal entrants or as illegal residents. They are tried in court and are, in principle, deported to their home country or forcefully expatriated to a third country."
"In other words," continued the editors, “at present our country has closed its doors tight to all exiles seeking political asylun."
The newspaper expected that "similar incidents will recur in the future," and advocated efforts "to establish legal standards quickly for the treatment of persons seeking asylum, with the current AWOL airmen case as a test case."
The four protesters, however, succeeded in evading the Japanese police and turned up in the Soviet Union. It is not known whether they will be granted political asylum there.