The Council of Europe's anti-torture committee is raising concerns about Germany's treatment of Afghan migrants being deported back to their homelands after observing that one man's genitals were squeezed to "inflict severe pain to gain compliance."

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture said In a report released Thursday that it observed on a 2018 flight that federal police used the method to subdue a man resisting being returned, while a second officer held him with an arm around his neck so "the returnee started struggling to breathe."

The committee recommended "immediate action to end the application of these two techniques."

In its response, Germany said it had forwarded the recommendations to federal police to take action.