German government reportedly detains Ahmed Mansour at Egypt's request
The International Press Institute (IPI) today urged German authorities to release Al Jazeera journalist Ahmed Mansour, a well-known Egyptian television presenter, who was arrested yesterday at Berlin's Tegel airport as he was about to board a flight to Qatar.
"IPI condemns Mr. Mansour's arrest in the strongest possible terms," IPI Executive Director Barbara Trionfi said. "This is the outcome of a request by the Egyptian government which, ever since it came to power, has clamped down on critical journalists and bloggers, and has gone to great length to suppress dissent.
"Germany has long been a strong defender of press freedom on the international stage and we urge the German authorities to remain faithful to their commitment to respect this fundamental right. Mansour's arrest, clearly linked to his criticism of the El-Sisi government, represents an unacceptable form of intimidation."
Reports said the arrest warrant was related to a Cairo's court's June 2014 conviction of Mansour in absentia on a charge that he tortured a lawyer in Tahrir Square in 2011, an accusation both Mansour and Al Jazeera reject. Mansour was sentenced to 15 years in prison on the charge.
Saad Djebbar, a lawyer representing Mansour, said that the request to detain his client apparently came directly from Egyptian authorities to the German government, not from Interpol. He explained that Al Jazeera - anticipating that the Egyptian government would seek the arrest of Al Jazeera journalists abroad who had been convicted in Egyptian courts - pre-emptively engaged with Interpol, leading the agency in October to decline Egypt's request for international arrest warrants against Mansour and others.
An Al Jazeera spokesperson told IPI that Mansour's arrest followed pressure by the Egyptian government over Germany's failure to arrest Mansour during his previous visits to the country in recent months.
Djebbar said today that Mansour's release on bail was not possible until a German judge assessed the case and that an initial hearing addressing only procedural grounds had already taken place. But he noted that no representatives from Interpol were present at the hearing and that Germany and Egypt have no formal extradition treaty. He also cited a ruling by German courts that he said prevented extradition to Egypt due to the treatment of detainees in prisons and by the judiciary.
Pointing to other cases involving arrest requests directly between governments, Djebbar said that if the German court needed any clarifying information it would need to request that from Egypt via diplomatic channels. He said that process could be lengthy and that Egypt might have an incentive to it drag out.
"Even when you only arrest someone, it's a humiliation," Djebbar commented. "It's a win for the [Egyptian] regime... . The longer Ahmed Mansour stays in detention or custody, the happier the regime will be."
Djebbar shared his belief that the aim of the warrant was to "terrorise Al Jazeera and any journalists who feature an opposition opinion", and that it represented the El-Sisi government's "plans to extend its influence and power to democratic countries" in order to silence journalists.
"Egypt is trying to turn a politically motivated pack of lies into a serious offence in order to remove the political and journalistic status from Ahmed Mansour," he explained. Predicting that Mansour's arrest could support efforts by "any dictatorial regime" around the globe to manipulate arrest warrants to target critics, he added: "If you allow such acts to take place in the future, it will be a tragedy for journalism."
Djebbar also said that a hearing set for tomorrow will be "decisive" in the case.
"It is better for the German authorities to find a face-saving formula by having the prosecution drop the arrest order," he said. "Otherwise it will create a huge problem for the government at the highest levels."
During an official visit of Egypt President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi to Germany earlier this month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel reportedly raised concerns about the human rights situation in Egypt, where thousands of supporters of former president Mohammed Morsi, as well as representatives of the 2011 democracy movement, have been arrested and, in some cases, sentenced to death.
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Mansour's 2014 conviction came as three other Al Jazeera journalists - then-acting Cairo bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy, Egyptian producer Baher Mohammed and Australian journalist Peter Greste - were convicted in a high-profile case on widely criticised charges that they conspired with the Muslim Brotherhood to broadcast false reports of civil strife in Egypt.
In a June 2014 letter to El-Sisi, IPI Executive Board members noted: "Egypt has signed and ratified international human rights treaties - including the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - that include clear provisions requiring states to ensure respect of the right to freedom of expression. The imprisonment and lengthy sentence of Al Jazeera journalists - and any other journalist currently jailed in Egypt for their work - is a clear violation of international commitments."
