Tehran — Three environmentalists have been detained in Iran, a conservative-linked news website reported late Friday, the latest in a series of arrests of wildlife campaigners in the country.

"Members of the Association for the Protection of Nature in Lavardin were arrested by a security agency. The allegations against them are unknown," Tabnak reported.

It said they were arrested in Bandar Lengheh in the southern Hormuzgan province on the Gulf coast.

It follows the arrest of eight members of the Persian Heritage Wildlife Association, Iran's most prominent nature NGO, in January on espionage charges.

Its founder Kavous Seyed Emami, 63, died in prison around two weeks later.

Officials say he committed suicide in his cell, but the family have questioned the verdict and say they were threatened by officials.

The deputy head of the government's Environment Protection Organization, renowned water campaigner Kaveh Madani, was also detained briefly this month. — AFP