Al Jazeera journalist to remain in German jail
Detained man wanted by Egypt for alleged torture
BERLIN // A prominent Al Jazeera journalist will remain in German custody for a second night, pending a court decision on whether to extradite him to Egypt or set him free, prosecutors said yesterday.
As dozens of supporters protested in front of the Berlin court building where Ahmed Mansour was being held, his lawyer, Fazli Altin, called for his immediate release, saying that Germany was getting involved in a politically tainted case.
Mansour, who works for the Qatar-based broadcaster’s Arabic service, was detained at Berlin’s Tegel airport on Saturday on an Egyptian arrest warrant, his lawyers said.
The 52- year- old, who holds dual Egyptian-British nationality, was trying to board a Qatar Airways flight to Doha when he was detained.
A spokesman for the Berlin prosecutor’s office said that Mansour would be taken to a city prison and that further decisions on his future would be made this week.
His lawyer said the lawfulness of his client’s possible extradition to Egypt would be likely to be checked today.
Mansour’s detention is the latest in a series of legal entanglements between Egypt and satellite news channels. The station said he had been sentenced in absentia in Egypt to 15 years in prison for allegedly torturing an unnamed lawyer in Tahrir Square in 2011, a charge both he and the channel rejected.
Mansour’s arrest is the result of “Egypt’s terrible revenge against journalists that cross the regime”, press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders said yesterday. If Germany did extradite him “it will be putting itself at service of a dictatorial regime and will dishonour itself”, it said. Mr Altin said Mansour was accused in the warrant “of having harmed the reputation of Egypt massively” and of having carried out torture.
“It’s unacceptable for the freedom of press and embarrassing for Germany that Mansour is being held here on these clearly political allegations,” he said.
The UK confirmed that it was providing consular assistance.
Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Badr Abdelattie said that Germany arrested Mansour based on a red flag put on him by Interpol.
He said Egyptian judicial authorities, including the chief prosecutor in Cairo, were speaking with German authorities to clarify what crimes he is wanted for.