Sudan releases detained Al-Jazeera correspondent

KHARTOUM, Dec 24 (AFP) — Sudanese authorities have released the Al Jazeera television correspondent they detained in Khartoum last week, accusing him and his company of spreading false information.

“The Khartoum correspondent for Al Jazeera, Islam Salih Belo, was released Wednesday by the Sudanese authorities,” the channel said in its news program.

Al Jazeera did not specify if the authorities had allowed its Khartoum bureau to re-open after shutting it down on Thursday.

“The Al Jazeera channel, through its Khartoum office and its correspondent, Islam Salih Belo, took to preparing and transmitting a number of programmes and materials stuffed with false information and poor, biased analyses and with pictures and scenes selected to serve its ends,” Sudan’s National Security Authority said last Friday.

It cited as evidence reports about tuberculosis, landmine victims in Sudan and events in the western Darfur region.

It said the bureau “will be reopened only after the channel’s headquarters takes steps for correcting the mistakes, redressing the shortcomings and appointing to the office responsible persons who can discharge the message of the channel in a neutral and professional manner”.