Sudan releases British journalist

Sudanese authorities said that it has handed over a British journalist, who was arrested for illegally entering the country, to the British embassy in Khartoum.

Philip Cox, the first journalist to report the Darfur crisis to the world through a report broadcast by Channel 4 in early 2004, was arrested in al-Fashir, the capital of Darfur, on January 21, Efe news reports.

The security and intelligence department turned over Cox to the British embassy in Khartoum on Thursday, after he was pardoned by Sudan President Omer al-Bashir, following a formal request from the British government.

Cox got into Darfur through neighbouring Chad without a visa, an official from the Sudanese interior ministry said.

The official added that Cox went to Darfur to investigate the complaint from Amnesty International on the use of internationally prohibited chemical weapons by the Sudanese government, in an attack on the rebels in the Marrah Mountains area.

Cox entered the country illegally and his involvement in planned activities harmful to national security has been proved.

According to a statement from the security department, the British ambassador to Khartoum, Michael Aron, thanked the Sudanese authorities for the gesture.

--IANS

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