By Kate Millar
German authorities have released Al Jazeera journalist Ahmed Mansour, two days after detaining him at the request of his native Egypt in a move that sparked outrage from rights groups.
"I'm free, I'm free, I'm free," Mansour exclaimed on Monday (local time) outside the Berlin prison, greeted by dozens of cheering supporters. "Thanks to people around the world who supported me in the last days!"
"We welcome this decision by the German prosecutor," said Al Jazeera spokesman Hareth Adlouni, adding that all charges had been dropped against 52-year-old Mansour.
Berlin prosecutors in a short statement said they would not seek his extradition and had ordered Mansour's release, citing both "legal aspects and possible political-diplomatic concerns", without detailing them.
Mansour, an Egyptian-British dual national, was controversially arrested on Saturday at a Berlin airport, where he had been due to fly to Doha. He had been sentenced last year by an Egyptian court in absentia to 15 years in prison on torture and other charges which he has rejected as "absurd".
German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer had earlier Monday (local time) cited concerns about the rule of law in Egypt under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, amid mass arrests and death sentences against his political opponents.
He added, on Egypt's general use of capital punishment, that "of course no one is extradited by Germany if he is in danger of facing the death penalty".
An Egyptian court in 2014 sentenced Mansour for "torturing a lawyer in 2011 on Tahrir Square" in Cairo, epicentre of an anti-regime uprising that brought down former president Hosni Mubarak.
The journalist has told Al Jazeera he rejected the "absurd" accusations, adding that he was also facing rape, kidnapping and robbery charges – accusations which he also denied.
Three Al Jazeera journalists, including Australia's Peter Greste and Canada's Mohamed Fahmy, were arrested in Cairo in 2013 and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison on charges of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.
Greste has since been deported while the other two are facing a retrial.
AFP
source: newshub archive
