An Israeli resident of Japan who was being held at a detention center in Yokohama after being charged in 2020 for allegedly smuggling drugs into the country has died, his lawyer said Tuesday.
The facility and the Yokohama District Court had refused to approve special treatment for Amnon Hanoh Tenenboim, 60, even though he was suspected of having a heart condition, lawyer Takashi Takano said.
But the Yokohama detention center said the same day that Tenenboim had been found lying on a bed in a solitary cell with an elastic hair band stretched from under his chin to the top of his head, suggesting that he may have taken his own life.
Tenenboim had undergone heart surgery in Israel around a month before Kanagawa Prefectural Police arrested him on suspicion of smuggling a large amount of illegal stimulants in November 2020, according to Takano.
Tenenboim had complained of poor health immediately following the arrest, but his applications to prefectural police and the detention center for medical assistance from March 2021 were not approved.
Last month, Tenenboim asked the court to suspend his detention so he could receive professional medical treatment, but his request was similarly denied.
Tenenboim was forbidden from seeing anyone besides his lawyer, which also contributed to his mental distress, according to Takano, who maintains that his client was innocent.
"I requested (Tenenboim's) detention be suspended while providing a doctor's opinion that his condition was worsening, but the request was not granted. It was inhumane," Takano said.
The court declined to comment on the matter.