DHAKA: A court in Germany is set to consider a request from Egypt to extradite Al Jazeera journalist Ahmed Mansour, who was detained at Berlin airport at the request of the Egyptian government.

Egypt asked Germany and Interpol on Sunday to extradite Mansour, but prosecutors have said they have not yet decided whether to send him to Egypt or set him free.

Al Jazeera’s Paul Brennan, reporting from Berlin, said the temporary detention investigative judge concluded his investigation with Mansour on Sunday, after which he was transferred to Moabit prison in Berlin.

“At 9:00am (07:00 GMT) on Monday, the attorney general will arrive at his office and start reading the documents that were rubber-stamped over the weekend,” Brennan said.

“At some point after that he will call Ahmed Mansour’s local lawyer to convene a formal hearing to look in substance at the allegations which the Egyptian authorities are leveling against Mansour.”

Dozens of supporters of Mansour protested in front of the Berlin court building where the journalist from Al Jazeera’s Arabic channel was being held.

Mansour’s lawyer, Fazli Altin, called for the journalist’s immediate release, saying that Germany was getting involved in a “politically tainted case”.

BDST: 1123 HRS, JUNE 22, 2015
BD/