Iranian news anchor and journalist Marzieh Hashemi working for Iran's English- language news network, Press TV, was detained and jailed in the United States for unspecified reasons, Press TV reported on Wednesday, January 16.

The correspondent is held in detention in Washington although no official charges have been filed against her, IRNA says.

The U.S.-born Hashemi who traveled to the U.S. to visit her ill brother was arrested at St. Louis International Airport in Lambert on Sunday and transferred to a detention facility in Washington by FBI agents.

Hashemi's relatives could not contact her for over 48 hours and have been recently made aware of her detention.

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

She converted to Islam after the 1979 Islamic revolution and moved to Iran in 2008, where she started working as a TV presenter and journalist. She is known for hosting programs and being a news anchor at Iran’s English-language Press TV television news network.