Officials seek access to reporter

Amardeep Bassey says he is in good health

The British High Commissioner in Islamabad is expected to meet Pakistan's interior minister on Friday to seek access to jailed Midlands reporter Amardeep Bassey.

Mr Bassey, 29, from Wolverhampton, is being held in Landi Kotal prison near Peshawar in north-western Pakistan after he was arrested for failing to have an exit visa.

The reporter, who works for the Birmingham-based Sunday Mercury newspaper, had been on a Foreign Office trip to visit British troops in Afghanistan when he was arrested after crossing the border into Pakistan.

He originally faced allegations of spying but those allegations were later dropped.

'Monitoring situation'

Mr Bassey, who is being held in a lock-up with 55 other inmates, has had no contact with British officials since his arrest.

The British High Commissioner is now expected to meet Pakistan's interior minister to ask for permission for consular officials to see Mr Bassey.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "Officials are continuing to monitor the situation of Mr Bassey and we are making representations to visit him where he is being held."

On Thursday, a Paris-based organisation, which campaigns for the rights of journalists, called for the immediate release of Mr Bassey.

Reporters san frontiers - Reporters without borders - accused the Pakistani authorities of "discriminating" against journalists of Indian origin.

A journalist who visited Mr Bassey said on Wednesday that he was being held in a lock-up with 55 other temporary prisoners at an army base in Landi Kotal.

The reporter said that Mr Bassey had received food and fresh clothes from the friends and family of two guides he was travelling with at the time of his arrest.