KABUL, Nov 26: A British freelance cameraman said on Friday he was detained by Afghan authorities for his role in the release of three UN hostages and came under pressure to sign a statement saying he was part of the kidnap gang.

Peter Jouvenal, who has been covering Afghanistan for three decades and runs a hotel in Kabul, said he was picked up by police from the Gandamack guest house on Thursday afternoon and detained overnight.

The incident came amid continuing confusion about both the abduction and the release of the foreign election workers, who were freed unharmed on Tuesday after spending 27 days in captivity.

"I was detained because I was involved in negotiating the release of the UN officials. At one stage they wanted me to sign a statement saying that I was part of the kidnap gang," he added.

Jouvenal said he and another journalist had been speaking to the head of the obscure Taliban splinter group Jaishul Muslimeen, or Army of Muslims, that claimed to be holding the hostages.

He added that they had merely passed on messages from a Kosovan businessman who was appealing for the release of the hostages, Annetta Flanigan of Northern Ireland, Kosovan Shqipe Hebibi and Filipino Angelito Nayan.

Jouvenal said interior ministry officials did not charge him with anything but tried to intimidate him into signing a confession. "I wasn't warned about my rights, they were trying to get me to sign some statement that they could use to charge me. The interior ministry were a bunch of Soviet-era thugs who were producing fabricated evidence," he said. -AFP