Protesters urge Egypt to free Al Jazeera journalists
Journalists and human rights campaigners protested outside the Egypt embassy in London to demand the release of three Al Jazeera journalists one year on from their incarceration. Reuters

Germany has freed Al Jazeera journalist Ahmed Mansour who had been held in Berlin pending an extradition request from Egypt.

The Egyptian authorities had sentenced him in 2014 to 15 years imprisonment after he had been convicted in absentia of torture. Mansour was held on 20 June as he tried to board a flight from Berlin to Qatar.

Al Jazeera says the accusations against Mr Mansour are absurd and false. "This was an unfortunate incident in Germany, but we are pleased that the mistake has been rectified," said al-Jazeera's acting director general, Mostefa Souag.

"We hope that this will be a lesson to the Egyptian authorities that the rest of the world values freedom of the press," he added.

Patrick Teubner, a lawyer for Mr Mansour, told Associated Press that there were no further legal matters pending against his client in Germany.

Mansour told Agence France-Presse: "Thanks to people around the world who supported me in the last days."

Before his release, Mansour said: "I am now in detention in Berlin airport in Germany as I was heading back to Doha. We hope that this misunderstanding will be resolved quickly. It is quite ludicrous that a country like Germany would enforce and support such a request made by a dictatorial regime like the one we have in Egypt."

"I am still under arrest at Berlin airport, waiting to be taken before an investigating judge," Mansour wrote on Twitter on Saturday, 20 June.

He is expected to remain in custody until Monday, 22 June when he will face a German judge.

Egypt had accused Al Jazeera of pandering to the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood organisation during the uprising.

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