Press TV - Iran's Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs has denounced the detention of Press TV news presenter Marzieh Hashemi, who has been imprisoned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on unspecified charges.

In a statement on Saturday, the presidency expressed its support for the inalienable humanitarian rights of the female Muslim journalist.

It also called on Iranian officials to make efforts to secure Hashemi's release.

Hashemi, a 59-year-old American-born Muslim convert who has been living in Iran for years, was detained at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Missouri last Sunday while she was in the US to visit her ill brother and other family members.

She was transferred to a detention facility in Washington D.C, where she was forced to remove her hijab and only offered food not permissible under her Islamic values.

After days of silence, the US government confirmed on Friday that it was holding Hashemi in jail as a �material witness,� and that she would be released after she testified before a grand jury.

Chile's Association of the Relatives of Executed Political Prisoners (Agrupaci�n de Familiares de Ejecutados Pol�ticos) said on Saturday that the detention of Press TV news presenter is appalling.

Speaking to Iran's Spanish-language television channel, Hispan TV, Alicia Lira Matus, the AFEP's president, said the association condemned the US ill-treatment of Hashemi, particularly when she was forced to remove her Hijab (the head covering for Muslim women).

In a message released on Saturday, Hashemi's family and friends called for her immediate release.

They said that she must be freed forthwith and be treated as an ordinary witness given her cooperation with US judicial authorities and the absence of any charges against her.