Dissident journalist Roman Protasevich could be killed in custody and looks to have been subjected to strangulation and beatings, said his mother on Wednesday,

Protasevich was detained in Belarus where the plane he was travelling on was forced to land.

"I simply plead with all the international community; please, world, stand up and help. I beg you so much because they will kill him," said Protasevich's mother, Natalia Protasevich.

In a video posted online on Monday, Protasevich said he was in good health and acknowledged having played a role in organising mass disturbances in Minsk last year, but the comments were dismissed by his allies as made under duress.

Belarus' Interior Ministry has said Protasevich is being held in jail and had not complained of ill health.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered a warplane to intercept a Ryanair flight between European Union members Greece and Lithuania on Sunday.

Roman Protasevich's social media feed from exile was one of the last remaining independent outlets for news about Belarus since a mass crackdown on dissent last year.

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