The 23-year-old committed suicide in Kabul after he was forcibly returned, along with 68 others, last week.

An Afghan asylum seeker who was deported from Germany last week after spending more than eight years in the country has killed himself, Afghan and German officials have said.

The 23-year-old committed suicide at a hotel in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Tuesday after being forcibly returned on July 4 along with 68 others, an Afghan official said.

A German interior ministry confirmed the news at a regular news conference saying: “We received confirmation from the Afghan authorities today morning that one of the passengers on the repatriation flight was found dead in accommodation in Kabul.

“According to the Afghan authorities, it was a suicide.”

On Tuesday, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer appeared to joke that the 69 deported Afghans were a birthday present.

“Just on my 69th birthday – and I didn’t request it – 69 people were sent back to Afghanistan,” he said with a raised smile on his face.

“That’s way above earlier levels.”

Callous men: German Interior Minister and government enfant terrible Horst Seehofer notes with amusement that on the day of his 69th birthday, Germany deported 69 Afghans back into a war zone – "I didn't even order that". pic.twitter.com/2KJnodwufh — Tobias Schneider (@tobiaschneider) July 10, 2018

In recent years, thousands of Afghan asylum seekers have been told they will be deported back to the active warzone despite outcrys that the country is not safe.

The repatriations have sparked a wave of protests at airports with signs reading: “Don’t send people back to die”.

Late last year, several pilots reportedly joined the movement and refused to fly planes deporting asylum seekers.

It comes as anti-immigrant sentiment has risen in the country with groups such as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) winning support as they blame security and economic woes on refugees.