The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has asked Malian authorities to? return the passports and equipment seized from two international Al-Jazeera journalists, who were attempting?to cross into militants-controlled areas of the country.
CPJ said that the journalists were detained for?two days having been?arrested on Saturday.
The journalists were released on Monday .
Police in the city of Ségou arrested Fadoul Abderazak, a reporter from Chad, and Salihu Awalu, the broadcaster's cameraman who
is from Nigeria on Saturday, according to local journalists.
The two reporters were interrogated about their work and their personal life, and then transferred into the custody of Malian state security in Bamako, the capital, according to Cheick Diouara, a Reuters TV journalist who was working with the journalists at the
time of their arrest.
Abderazak and Awalu were released on Monday, but officers kept their passports and laptops, Dioura said.
Nouhou Togo, spokesman for the Malian Defence Ministry, said that the journalists were stopped for security reasons and? to
prevent them from being taken hostage in the Islamist-controlled region.
He said he would make inquiries about their confiscated passports and equipment.
“Mali's government claims to have arrested Al-Jazeera journalists Fadoul Abderazak and Salihu Awalu for their own safety, but two days of detention can only be interpreted as obstruction from performing?their duties, which require them to speak to both sides of a conflict,’’ CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita said in a statement.
“We call on Malian authorities to return Abderazak and Awalu's passports and equipment immediately,’’ he said. (PANA/NAN)