Al-Jazeera Arabic journalist detained at Berlin airport in Germany on Egyptian arrest warrant

FILE- In this Jan. 1, 2015, file photo, staff members of Al-Jazeera International work at the news studio in Doha, Qatar. Ahmed Mansour, a prominent Al-Jazeera Arabic journalist, was detained Saturday, June 20, in Germany over an Egyptian arrest warrant, the Qatar-based broadcaster reported. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal, File) (The Associated Press)

CAIRO – Al-Jazeera is reporting that one of its Arabic language journalists has been detained in Germany over an Egyptian arrest warrant.

Al-Jazeera English identified the detained reporter Saturday as Ahmed Mansour, a senior journalist with its Arabic television news channel. It said he had previously been sentenced in absentia in Egypt to 15 years in prison over allegedly torturing a lawyer in Tahrir Square in 2011, a charge both he and the channel rejected.

While not identifying Mansour by name, German police spokesman Meik Grauer said authorities detained a 52-year-old Egyptian-British journalist at Berlin's Tegel airport. Grauer said the journalist was detained before he boarded a flight to Doha, Qatar, and that prosecutors would look into the arrest warrant Sunday.