An Afghan asylum-seeker suffering depression and posttraumatic stress disorder tried to kill himself last week while being moved from a hospital in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, to a detention facility, it was learned Friday.
Four officials of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau's Yokohama branch took the 50-year-old ethnic Hazaran into custody at the hospital on March 17, despite being forewarned that such action might trigger a suicide attempt.
The man stabbed his upper right arm, left thigh and abdomen with a knife while being transferred to the branch.