Al Jazeera journalist, Ahmed Mansour
Interpol, the international organisation for police cooperation, has rejected a request from Egypt to issue one of its red notices against Ahmed Mansour, an Al Jazeera journalist.
According to Interpol’s website, a red notices is issued in order “to seek the location and arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition of similar lawful action.”
Mr. Mansour was convicted earlier this month in absentia by an Egyptian court and given a 15-year jail term for carrying out alleged torture during the January 25th revolution in 2011. Mr. Mansour rejected the charges as absurd, while Al Jazeera dismissed the accusation as an attempt at character assassination against of one of its leading journalists.
In an email to Al Jazeera’s lawyers, Interpol confirmed receiving a request from Egypt’s National Central Bureau about Mansour, but said that Egypt’s red notice request “did not meet Interpol’s rules”.
An Al Jazeera spokesman said:
“This is further evidence of how Egypt’s legal actions against Al Jazeera are perceived as part of a political campaign against the network. This campaign is plainly not working and we will not be intimidated – journalists and citizens across the world are horrified by these breaches of basic press freedom. After the unjust imprisonment of three of our journalists last year who remain in Egyptian prison, and this unwarranted pursuit of one of the Arab world’s most prominent journalists, the Egyptian authorities should stop undermining freedom of speech, one of the pillars of the civilized world.”
The network also reiterated its call for the release of the three Al Jazeera English journalists – Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohammed – who have been in jail since December 29th, 2013 as part of a separate case.