Chirac defends detained reporter

Paris Match journalist Michel Peyrard pictured in 1994

PARIS, France -- French President Jacques Chirac has spoken out in support of a French reporter facing spying charges in Afghanistan.

Michel Peyrard, 44, a reporter for the French illustrated weekly Paris Match, was arrested on Tuesday wearing a head-to-toe burqa veil, worn by women in Afghanistan.

He was officially charged with spying a day later, Reuters reported. The ruling Taliban has banned foreign reporters from Afghanistan.

"He's a journalist known internationally, recognised for his ability and for the quality of his work carried out solely in the name of public information," Chirac told a news conference following a one-day Franco-Spanish summit in southern France.

"What is put in doubt, over and above Michel Peyrard himself, is freedom of information, freedom of the press throughout the world, a freedom which should exist in Afghanistan as in all countries of the world."

Chirac's spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said the president had spoken on Wednesday to the head of Paris Match.

He said he hoped the journalist would be "freed safe and sound as quickly as possible," Colonna said.

"Jacques Chirac called ... to show his emotion after the unjustified arrest and charge of Michel Peyrard," she said.

Paris Match said its deputy general director and another journalist had taken a file of Peyrard's work to a Taliban representative in Pakistan to prove he was a reporter and not a spy.

"They have received the file very favourably," deputy editor Patrick Jarnoux told Reuters.

He said Peyrard tried to sneak into Afghanistan to report on the U.S.-led air strikes.

Reporters Sans Frontieres arranged for international radio stations to air a plea for his release, read by Paris Match's Genestar in French, English and Arabic, across the world.

Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said on Thursday that the French foreign ministry had also spoken to British authorities, who managed to secure the release on Monday of British journalist Yvonne Ridley after 10 days under arrest.

She too had entered Afghanistan illegally by shrouding herself in a burqa. She was freed on Monday.