Al-Jazeera scribe booked in Berlin freed

The Al-Jazeera journalist who was detained in Berlin on an Egyptian arrest warrant has been released from custody, a spokesman for the Berlin prosecutors’ office said on Monday.

Stefan Stoehr said Ahmed Mansour “is free,” but could not immediately provide any more details. The well-known 52-year-old journalist was detained on Saturday on an Egyptian warrant at Berlin’s Tegel airport as he tried to board a Qatar Airways flight to Doha.

A dual Egyptian-British citizen, he was convicted in absentia in Egypt on charges that his lawyers and reporters’ groups call politically motivated.

Mansour’s attorney Patrick Teubner said that it was his understanding that there were no strings attached to his client’s release and that there were no further charges or legal matters pending against him in Germany. “I think that was absolutely the right decision,” Teubner told The Associated Press. “There was no other alternative.” Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the justice building before Mansour was released, carrying signs with slogans including “stop the bloodbath in Egypt” and “freedom for Ahmed Mansour.”