[JURIST] Two media rights groups called for US Middle East military commander General John Abizaid [Defense Department profile] to release a Reuters journalist being held at the Abu Ghraib prison facility in Iraq unless the military can provide a valid explanation for his detention. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders [advocacy website] and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists [advocacy website] have accused US forces [CPJ press release] of holding Ali Omar Abrahem al-Mashhadani and other reporters without giving justifications for their arrests. Mashhadani's family said that US Marines conducted a search of the journalist's home earlier this month and the encounter grew hostile after soldiers reviewed images on Mashhadani's cameras and computer. US military officials have not yet responded to the media groups' accusations. Reuters has more.