A prominent Al-Jazeera journalist will remain in German custody for a second night, prosecutors say, adding they have not yet decided whether to extradite him to Egypt or set him free.
As dozens of supporters protested on Sunday in front of the Berlin court building where Ahmed Mansour was being held, his lawyer, Fazli Altin, called for the journalist's immediate release, saying that Germany was getting involved in a politically tainted case.
Mansour, 52, a well-known journalist with the Qatar-based broadcaster's Arabic service, was detained at Berlin's Tegel airport on Saturday on an Egyptian arrest warrant, his lawyers said.
Mansour, who holds dual Egyptian-British nationality, was trying to board a Qatar Airways flight to Doha, the station reported.
Martin Steltner, a spokesman for the Berlin prosecutor's office, said Mansour would be taken to a prison in the city and that further decisions on his future will be made next week.
A government judicial official said there would probably be a decision next week on whether Mansour had to remain in custody. In addition, the Berlin Court of Justice would decide - once it gets a request for extradition from Egypt - whether Mansour can be extradited or whether the case is politically motivated.
Even if the court rules in favour of an extradition, the German government can still veto that.
According to court documents, Mansour was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison, alongside two Muslim Brotherhood members and an Islamic preacher, for allegedly torturing a lawyer in Tahrir Square in 2011, a charge both he and the channel rejects.
His arrest is the result of "Egypt's terrible revenge against journalists that cross the regime," press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders said in a statement on Sunday, adding if Germany did extradite him "it will be putting itself at service of a dictatorial regime and will dishonour itself."
The Committee to Protect Journalists also issued a statement calling for Mansour's immediate release.
Altin said Mansour was accused in the warrant "of having harmed the reputation of Egypt massively" and of having committed torture.
"According to our knowledge, Interpol refused to initiate an international arrest warrant on Mansour, so it's not really clear why he was detained at all," said Altin.
The German prosecutor's office declined to comment on the issue on Sunday and the German border patrol refused to say on what allegations Mansour had been detained.
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdelattie told AP, however, that Germany arrested Mansour based on the red flag put out for him by Interpol.
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