Peshawar, May 18 (Reuters): A lawyer representing an Afghan journalist held incommunicado in Pakistan for almost a month said today he had asked a court to order the government to either charge him or release him.

Sami Yousafzai, a regular contributor to the American magazine Newsweek, was arrested in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan on April 21, along with American journalist Eliza Griswold.

Griswold was freed and expelled from Pakistan soon afterwards but Yousafzai and their Pakistani driver still have not been released, according to the Afghan’s lawyer, Kamran Arif, and journalists’ groups.

Pakistan, a key ally of the US in its war on terror, has banned foreign journalists from entering the tribal region without specific permission, but the government has not commented on Yousafzai’s whereabouts.

“He has not been produced before any court of law and he is in the custody of the military authorities,” Arif said, adding that his information was based on local media reports because he had been unable to meet Yousafzai. “He has not been given a chance to consult a lawyer or his family,” he said.

Arif said he had asked the high court in the city of Peshawar to compel the government to produce Yousafzai and driver Mohammad Salim for formal charges under the law of habeas corpus, or to declare his detention illegal and order his release.

Journalists’ groups have condemned Yousafzai’s detention and urged his release.