labour in Japan, a country that uses both foreign and Japanese prisoners to make commercial goods at slave wages.

Mr. Michael Griffith, the New York lawyer who represented Billy Hayes Jr. of "Midnight Express'' fame, told The Royal Gazette yesterday that a number of major companies have benefited from the practice, which the Japanese government refuses to stop.

"There are 29 different factories in Fuchu, Japan's main prison,'' Mr.

Griffith said yesterday. "Prisoners, including ones from other countries, are forced to work more than five eight-and-a-half-hour days a week at around three cents an hour.

"The prisoners are only permitted to talk for seven minutes a day. The rest of the time they must remain silent. If they refuse to work, they are manacled in a grotesque position, forced to eat off the floor in a chobatsu (punishment cell) and must defecate the same way.'' Added Mr. Griffith: "This is an important story. In the past, the only country that had been known to use prisoners in this way was Communist China.'' Mr. Griffith, who is a member of the International Bar Association's Criminal Law Committee, said the Japanese government justifies the practice by saying inmates are not placed at the "disposal'' of the companies because they do not work for them directly.

To place a prisoner at the "disposal'' of a firm or individual is a contravention of the International Labour Organisation's convention on compulsary labour, which Japan signed in 1932.

But, Mr. Griffith said, the companies do "benefit'' from the convicts' labour, a situation which is just as illegal.

"I believe that sanctions are in order against Japan,'' Mr. Griffith said, noting the country's prison activities were a major topic of discussion at a recent IBA conference in Melbourne, Australia.

"Each of the Law Committee's members has promised to go back to their respective countries and ask their governments to protest this violation of international law and co-ordinate with me an action against Japan.'' Though no Bermudians are known to be incarcerated in a Japanese prison, two Bermudian Law Committee members -- Solicitor General Mr. Barrie Meade and lawyer Mr. Richard Hector -- will be asked to join in the pressuring of Japanese officials.

"I'm going to ask Richard and Barrie to bring this up with your government,'' Mr. Griffith said. "Our goals are to prohibit the importation of convict-made goods and thereby either stop the practice, make it voluntary or at the very least have them paid prevailing wages.'' He added that ordinary Bermudians could do their part by boycotting companies that profit from forced labour.