A man who was once one of Argentina's best known military figures, Emilio Massera, has been taken to hospital only days after being arrested on charges of kidnapping during the time of military rule in the nineteen seventies and eighties.

Mr Massera -- formerly the most senior officer in the Argentine navy and a member of the ruling military leadership at that time -- was arrested and imprisoned earlier this week by a judge investigating the abduction of children born to parents who had been detained under military rule.

It is alleged that the children were subsequently handed over for adoption to members of the military and police.

Reports say that Mr Massera, who is seventy-three, had complained of heart trouble.