Ghosn’s Arrests Called ‘Extrajudicial Abuse’ by UN Panel

Ex-Nissan chairman’s arrests ‘fundamentally unfair:’ UN panel
Ghosn, who fled Japan in a box in December, is now in Lebanon

Carlos Ghosn is escorted from Tokyo Detention House following his release on bail in March 2019.Photographer: Toru Hanai/Bloomberg

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By Hugo Miller

November 23, 2020 at 9:36 AM UTC

Updated on

November 24, 2020 at 1:54 AM UTC

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Carlos Ghosn’s detention for almost 130 days in a Japanese jail was neither necessary nor reasonable and violated the former Nissan Motor Co. chairman’s human rights, a UN panel concluded in a harsh critique of Tokyo prosecutors who led the case against him.

The decision to arrest Ghosn four times in a row so as to extend his detention was “fundamentally unfair,” the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said in a report Monday posted on its website. The panel said that it would refer the case to the UN’s rapporteur on torture, cruel and other inhuman or degrading treatment.