(AP)- - PARIS A French journalist held in Yemen by immigration authorities for alleged illegal entry into the country is in good health, France's Foreign Ministry said Monday.

Daniel Grandclement-Chaffy, a freelance journalist, was taken into custody Thursday after he entered Yemen on a boat filled with refugees from Somalia, Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said. Grandclement-Chaffy was working on a story about the refugees for France 3 television.

"Our compatriot is in good health, though he was tired from the journey," said Mattei, adding that representatives of the French Embassy in Yemen visited the journalist Monday.

"We asked Yemeni authorities that our compatriot be allowed to return to France as soon as possible."

The Paris-based media freedom group Reporters Without Borders echoed Mattei's call for Grandclement-Chaffy's release and denounced the circumstances of his detention.

"We are amazed by his arrest," the organization said in a statement. "He is not a would-be immigrant and was aboard a boat carrying refugees purely in his professional capacity as a journalist. Furthermore, as the holder of a visa issued by the Yemeni authorities, he cannot be accused of entering the country illegally."