Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Maputo City Law Court on Monday ordered the release of Turkish citizen Emre Cinar, the director of the private Willow International School.
The National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) had detained Cinar on 30 December following a request for his extradition from the Turkish authorities.
According to Cinar’s legal team no proper arrest warrant was shown, merely a screen shot of a mobile phone message.
After a three hour hearing on Monday, a judge at the Maputo court granted Cinar his provisional freedom.
Cited in Tuesday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”, his lawyers said their client has not been accused of any crime. They believe his detention was just part of the Turkish government’s pattern of harassment of those who oppose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
One of the lawyers, Henriques Junior, said the arrest was political persecution. “This is what happens everywhere”, he said. “All those who are not apologists for the Turkish government of the day are regarded as persona non grata”. Mozambique was just one of many countries where the Turkish regime has submitted extradition requests.
He was pleased that the judge had ordered the provisional release of his client, but censored the fact that for several days Cinar had been denied access to his lawyers. Junior believed that the case will now be dismissed, since there is no evidence that Cinar has committed any crime under Mozambican law.
