CAIRO: Sudan has agreed to release an Egyptian journalist detained in Khartoum for nearly two weeks following talks between the leaders of the two countries, the Egyptian president's office said yesterday.
President Muhamad Mursi "has agreed during talks with Sudanese President Omar Bashir in Addis Ababa on the release today of journalist Shaimaa Adil who has been detained in Sudan," presidency spokesman Yasser Ali said in a statement carried by Egypt's official MENA news agency.
Journalists' groups had demanded that Sudan release two reporters, the Egyptian and a Sudanese, Marwa Al Tegani, who were detained during a clampdown sparked by unprecedented anti-regime protests. Mekki Elmograbi, the press freedom and human rights secretary of the official Sudanese Journalists' Union, said that following the summit between Bashir and Mursi, Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Karti "told us that they issued a decree" for releasing the Egyptian.
But he said the union is still demanding that Tegani also be freed, Elmograbi told AFP from Addis Ababa.
Sudan's foreign ministry spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.
The official Sudanese Journalists' Union said last week that Adil and Marwa Al Tegani should be either freed or brought before a court for charges to be filed.
Sudan to free Egyptian journalist: Mursi’s office
-
{{#bullets}}
- {{value}} {{/bullets}}