DHAKA: Al-Jazeera says one of its senior journalists has been arrested in Germany at the request of Egypt.

Ahmed Mansour, who works for the channel’s Arabic-language service, was detained as he tried to board a flight from Berlin to Qatar.

A German police official said Egyptian authorities had issued an international arrest warrant for Mansour,  reports the BBC.

A court in Egypt’s capital Cairo sentenced him to 15 years in prison in absentia last year on torture charges.

Al-Jazeera says the claims made against Mansour, who has dual British and Egyptian citizenship, are absurd and false.

‘I am still under arrest at Berlin airport, waiting to be taken before an investigating judge,’ Mansour, 52, tweeted on Saturday night.

Al-Jazeera reporter that he is expected to remain in custody until Monday when he will go in front of a German judge.

A police spokesman said the arrest was made at 15:20 local time (13:20 GMT).

He added that the Egyptian-issued arrest warrant accused Mansour of committing ‘several crimes’ but he gave no further details.

BDST: 1227 HRS, JUN 21, 2015
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