KHARTOUM,
Sept. 9 (Xinhua) - An American journalist Paul Salopek was released on Saturday
in the western Sudanese region of Darfur where he had been detained for more
than a month one spionage charges, the Chicago Tribune reported on its website
edition.
A judge in Al-Fashir, North Darfur, released Salopek
and his Chadian driver as well as an interpreter after a 13-minute hearing,
according to the report.
"We are stopping the case and we are releasing you
right now. And that is all," Judge Hosham Mohammed Yousif spoke in English to
the three persons.
The announcement came a day after U.S. New Mexico
Governor Bill Richardson met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir who promised
to release the three men for "humanitarian reasons."
The three were to leave al-Fashir later Saturday and
fly to Khartoum with Richardson and his traveling party, including Salopek's
wife, Linda Lynch, and U.S. Charge d'Affairs in Sudan Cameron Hume.
Salopek is to return home in New Mexico. His two
Chadians companions are to return to their country.
The U.S. journalist, who had won a Pulitzer in 1998
and another in 2001, was arrested in al-Fashir last month and charged with
espionage, passing information illegally, writing "false news" and entering
Sudan without a visa. Enditem
