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Governor urges journo's release
07/09/2006 12:58 - (SA)
Santa Fe - Governor Bill Richardson, playing a familiar role as a diplomatic troubleshooter, plans to travel to Sudan on Thursday to try to secure the release of American journalist Paul Salopek.
The journalist, a Chicago Tribune reporter who had a home in Columbus, New Mexico, was arrested last month in the war-torn region of Darfur and charged with espionage, passing information illegally, writing "false news" and entering the African country without a visa.
The governor planned to meet with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and ask for the release of Salopek, his driver and interpreter.
Pahl Shipley, a spokesperson for the governor, said Salopek's wife, Linda, and Chicago Tribune Editor Ann Marie Lipinski would accompany Richardson on the trip to Khartoum. Salopek's wife and Lipinski had asked for Richardson's help.
Essential role of journalists
Richardson said: "I will encourage President al-Bashir to recognise the essential role of journalists and a free press and release Paul and his colleagues on humanitarian grounds."
David Hiller, the Tribune's publisher and chief executive officer, said: "We are encouraged by the news of governor Richardson's trip and President al-Bashir's willingness to consider Paul's case on humanitarian grounds."
Richardson, a former congressman, United Nations ambassador and energy secretary during the Clinton administration, secured the release in 1996 of three Red Cross workers, including an Albuquerque pilot, from Marxist rebels in Sudan.
Richardson also had travelled to Iraq, North Korea and Cuba to gain the release of Americans held prisoner. Last year, he went to North Korea at the communist government's invitation.
Richardson was strongly favoured to win re-election this year and was seen as a possible contender for the democratic presidential nomination in 2008.
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