US Governor Secures Release of American Journalist in Sudan
08 September 2006
A U.S. state governor says Sudan has agreed to release an American journalist and two Chadian colleagues arrested and charged with espionage last month.
Governor Bill Richardson of the southwestern state of New Mexico says Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir promised their release on humanitarian grounds during a meeting Friday in Khartoum.
Richardson said he told the president that releasing U.S. journalist Paul Salopek is the right thing to do, because he is not a spy.
Salopek is a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter for the Chicago Tribune. He was on a freelance assignment for National Geographic magazine in the Darfur region when he was detained with his Chadian driver and interpreter last month.
The three were charged with espionage, passing information illegally and writing false news.
Richardson says Salopek will return home to New Mexico with him. When he is not on assignment, Salopek lives in New Mexico.
In 1996, Richardson successfully negotiated the release of a U.S. pilot John Early and two Red Cross workers held by Sudanese rebels for 38 days.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
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