Filmmaker and journalist Maziar Bahari, who has filed reports for Newsweek, has not been heard from since being detained on Sunday morning.

"Newsweek strongly condemns this unwarranted detention, and calls upon the Iranian government to release him immediately," a statement released by the magazine said.

Bahari is a Canadian citizen and has been reporting from Iran for the last 10 years.

Iranian authorities also ordered a BBC correrspondent to leave the country within 24 hours. Western media's ability to cover the events in Iran have been severely hampered by restrictions placed on them by Iranian authorities.

Since the election results were announced, more than 20 journalists and bloggers attempting to cover the disputed results have been detained. World leaders have called on the Iranian government to allow journalists to do their job.

"The attitude of the Tehran authorities in the face of the legitimate desire for truth of a large part of the Iranian population is inexcusable," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.

Iranian authorities have blamed the foreign media in the United States, Britain and other countries for the unrest. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband rejected the accusations.

av/dpa/AFP
Editor: Trinity Hartman