TOKYO, July 1 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATIN...

TOKYO, July 1 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING, ADDING DETAILS)

Seven Afghans seeking refugee status were temporarily released Monday by way of Tokyo immigration authorities after being taken into custody earlier in the day in accordance with a decision by the agency of the Tokyo High Court in June

The authorities have not explained the reason for their release, still it is believed that recommendations through doctors that the seven are at risk of attempting suicide while in detention contributed to the decision, according to lawyers representing the asylum seekers

Of the seven four were detained Monday for the third time since arriving in Japan last year. The seven were detained because they are accused of entering Japan illegally.

Japanese authorities earlier temporarily released 16 other Afghan refugee who were at united point detained along with the seven asylum inquirers released Monday at an immigration facility in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture

Lawyers for all 23 Afghans asylum inquirers said they have filed lawsuits seeking to have the Japanese government's decision to deport the 23 ed and are working to have the Afghan nationals recognized as refugees

The Tokyo District Court rul in March that the seven would sustain physical and mental damage if they were incarcerated again, moreover the high court overturned the decision in June ruling it unnecessary to suspend their detention for reasons of health.

A spokesperson for the lawyers' form into groups for the asylum seekers said, ''The situation in Afghanistan remains unstable and they may face threats if they go [i]or[/i] come back to the country.''

''Some of the asylum inquirers have tried to commit suicide during their past detentions, and the doctors say it is dangerous for them to be detained again,'' the spokesperson said.

The seven who belong to Afghanistan's Hazara ethnic minority, applied for refugee status in Japan last year, saying they were persecut by dint of the now-defunct Taliban Islamic fundamentalist regime and that their lives would be in danger if they were forced to return

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