Germany Frees Al Jazeera Journalist

After being arrested in Berlin, Germany, Qatar-based Al Jazeera journalist Ahmed Mansour has been confirmed released on June 23. The senior journalist was detained at Berlin airport as he tried to board a flight to Qatar on Saturday.

On Monday, ABC reports the senior journalist and his lawyer greeted his supporters after he was released. After that, he thanked the German court for allowing him to be freed from jail.

"I extend my thanks and appreciation to the honest and honourable judges of Germany," he said in Arabic, as quoted by Al Jazeera. "Thanks to people around the world who supported me in the last days. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free," he added.

Reporting from Berlin, Al Jazeera news correspondent Paul Brennan said after Mansour transferred to Mobait prison in Berlin, the judge concluded his investigation with the journalist. Brennan added Mansour’s lawyers were making the arrangements for his departure. One of Al Jazeera’s lawyers, Saad Djebbar, said he was very happy about the court’s decision.

Based on the CNN report, Mansour tried to board a flight to Qatar on Saturday. The Egyptian court made a request to arrest him as he was convicted and sentenced for 15 years due to absentia on charges of torturing a lawyer in Cairo's Tahrir Square in 2011. Aside from Mansour, two Muslim brotherhood members and a preacher were sentenced to jail for alleged torturing a lawyer.

More than 25,000 supporters had signed a petition to call the attention of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to release Mansour. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera acting director Mostefa Souga called Mansour’s detention as an “unfortunate incident.”

Two Al Jazeera journalists are still on trial in Egypt. They were arrested in Cairo alongside reporter Peter Greste in December 2013. From previous report, the Committee to Protect Journalists or CPJ called on Egypt to stop pursuing Al Jazeera journalists’ cases.

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