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IFJ welcomes release of veteran al-Jazeera reporter from detention in Germany
The International Federation of Journalists welcomes the release of al-Jazeera journalist Ahmed Mansour who has been detained in Germany after an extradition request from Egypt.
Veteran Egyptian-British journalist Ahmed Mansour was held on June 20 as he tried to board a flight from Berlin to Qatar following an extradition order from Egypt. The journalist has been accused of taking part in the torture of a lawyer in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in 2011 and sentenced to 15 years prison in absentia by an Egyptian court. These accusations have been denied by his lawyers and al-Jazeera.
The German prosecutor today confirmed that the journalist had been freed.
"It must be a great relief for Ahmed to be freed to go back home to his job and family and the IFJ congratulates him for being so confident and resolute in fighting his case," said IFJ President Jim Boumelha. " It was indeed a fantastic display of solidarity to see so many journalists and their unions working together to campaign for his release. This must be a huge setback for the Egyptian legal process for delivering so many sentences against journalists when the judgement against Ahmed has now been considered doubtful and is not worth the paper it is written on. But the question remains as to why Ahmed was arrested in the first place?."