Al-Jazeera has denounced the arrest of one of its journalists, Ahmed Mansour, by German authorities after the man was detained in Berlin at the request of Egyptian authorities Saturday night.
Mansour, a senior journalist at Al Jazeera Arabic, was detained Saturday while attempting to board a flight for Qatar.
"The crackdown on journalists by Egyptian authorities is well known. Our network, as the Arab world's most-watched, has taken the brunt of this. Other countries must not allow themselves to be tools of this media oppression, least of all those that respect freedom of the media as does Germany," Acting Director General of Al-Jazeera network Mostefa Souag said .
"Ahmed Mansour is one of the Arab world's most respected journalists and must be released immediately."
The BBC reported that Mansour had been detained on an Egyptian arrest warrant, however Al-Jazeera said that Interpol has rejected the warrant last October, calling into question why Germany would honor it.
Mansour was convicted in absentia last year to 15 years in prison on charges that he tortured a lawyer. The journalist and the station have both insisted that the charges are entirely fabricated.
Egypt has targeted Al-Jazeera and its reporters a number of times, charging that the station provided support to the Muslim Brotherhood, which was banned as a terrorist group after the military removed President Mohammed Morsi from power in 2013.
After releasing Al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste earlier this year, Egypt is still holding two reporters on charges of supporting terrorism.