The police have confirmed that a Syrian national inflicted harm on himself on 5 January at the Police depot in Floriana. This newsroom has seen a copy of the medical certificate where a doctor described him as being suicidal and send him to Mount Carmel for observation.

This portal published the story on Thursday night following a report on Daphne Caruana Galizia's blog, and questions were sent to the police.

In their reply, the police said: "This particular case which occurred on the 5 January 2016, involved a Syrian national who managed to inflict an abrasion (girfa) on his forearm which was of a slight nature.  Nevertheless, as a precautionary measure, he was taken to Mt Carmel Hospital minutes after he committed his act."  An internal affairs investigation has also been launched regarding this matter.

The police said that it is not the norm to report to the media each and every attempted suicide or self-harm which occurs at the Police lock-up.  During the last five years, since 2010, there were 16 attempted suicides or self-harm at the Police lock-up. All of these were detected by lock-up staff and further injuries or deaths were prevented due to their timely intervention, said the police.