IRNA - Iranian Foreign Minister in a message referred to detaining Iranian journalist Marzieh Hashemi and criticized the US administration for violating the civil rights.


'The US govt needs to explain how Marzieh Hashemi�a journalist and grandmother�is such a flight risk that she must be incarcerated until she finishes her testimony to a grand jury. 50 years after MLK assassination, US still violates the civil rights of black men and women,' Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Monday.

The US-born Marzieh Hashemi (Melanie Franklin) who traveled to the US to visit her sick brother was arrested at St. Louis International Airport in Lambert on January 13 and transferred to a detention facility in Washington by FBI agents.

Hashemi has told her family she has been mistreated at the detention center and her hijab has been forcibly removed.

In the meantime, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi condemned the US act and called for her immediate and unconditional release.

This is while, Pen American Center, a non-profit organization working to defend free expression in the US and the world, in a statement called for immediate release of Hashemi.

Meanwhile, the Council on American�Islamic Relations (CAIR) has urged US to be accountable to the arrest of Marzieh Hashemi, saying there is no justification for denying her religious rights.