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US journalist and colleagues freed by Sudan government

Paul Salopek, an American journalist held on spying charges after he crossed into Sudan from Chad without a visa last month, was set free on Saturday, along with his Chadian driver and an interpreter.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson secured Salopek's release on Friday on what he called "humanitarian grounds" after flying to Khartoum to meet with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Salopek, a foreign correspondent on leave from the Chicago Tribune and on assignment for National Geographic, was detained with the two Chadians by a rebel group aligned with the Sudanese government.

They were seized Aug. 6 as they moved along the western border with Chad, in Darfur, the focus of a long, deadly conflict between non-Arab rebels and the Arab-dominated government. The three were held for more than a month. Salopek, who has won two Pulitzer prizes, was charged with espionage and writing "false news" about Sudan.

The charges were dropped, and after a brief court appearance in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, he was turned over to Richardson and flown to Khartoum. Salopek was to return with Richardson to New Mexico, where he and his wife, Linda Lynch, have a home.

The driver, Idriss Abdulraham Anu, and the interpreter, Suleiman Abakar Moussa, were to fly back to Chad.

The arrest of Salopek is one in a series of recent actions against journalists here in Sudan.

Newspapers have been censored and confiscated, and reporters beaten and harassed while trying to cover unrest over increases in the price of gasoline and other essential items.

On Saturday, Sudanese officials confiscated the entire press run of al Sudani, an independent newspaper, saying articles in it would compromise the investigation into the beheading of a prominent newspaper editor, Mohammed Taha, last week.

Journalists in Sudan said the confiscation of the newspapers, together with the killing of Taha, are among the results of a government crackdown. Censors have been assigned to newsrooms, excising articles and sometimes whole pages of newspapers.
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