A Czech Christian aid worker sentenced to 24 years in jail has left Sudan after President Omar al-Bashir ordered his release, a foreign ministry official says.
Petr Jasek, 53, had been arrested in December 2015 and sentenced last month.
A member of a small Protestant Czech church called Cirkev Bratrska, Jasek had traveled to Sudan to help local Christians, according to Czech media reports.
Sudanese authorities said he had entered the country “illegally” from neighboring South Sudan and gone to the conflict-riven state of South Kordofan.
In January, a court found him guilty of entering Sudan without a visa, spying, taking pictures of military installations and inciting hatred, according to his lawyer.
But on Sunday Bashir pardoned him and ordered his release, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour announced at a joint press conference with his visiting Czech counterpart Lubomir Zaoralek.
— AFP
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