Gov. Bill Richardson has jumped on board with a host of other political leaders and journalists calling for the release of Chicago Tribune correspondent Paul Salopek.
Richardson met with Sudan’s ambassador to the United States last week, and says he believes that country will seriously consider releasing Salopek on humanitarian grounds, according to an article from the KRT Wire.
Salopek, who is from New Mexico, was arrested last month in the Darfur region of Sudan and charged with espionage and other violations. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist was on a freelance assignment for National Geographic.
A spokesman for the Sudanese Embassy said Richardson’s meeting with the ambassador was positive, adding that he believes “Sudan will reconsider the status of Mr. Salopek on a humanitarian basis,” according to the wire service.
Richardson, the former United Nations ambassador, said he was asked by the Tribune’s editor and Salopek’s wife to intervene. He called the meeting “positive,” but said there was “a lot of stuff I can’t talk about,” according to the wire service.
The two had good reason to ask for Richardson’s help, according to the wire service. He has known the current Sudanese ambassador, Khidir Haroun Ahmed, for a decade. In 1996, when Richardson was a congressman from New Mexico, he negotiated the release of three Red Cross workers, an American pilot and others who were held by Sudanese rebels.
Back then, Ahmed was the translator who worked with Richardson. Two years ago, Richardson told the wire service, Ahmed sent him a photo of their negotiating session, and the two have remained friends since.
Richardson told the wire service that relationship helped.
“I stressed that it was important for the Sudan to release Mr. Salopek on humanitarian grounds,” he said. “I said he was not a spy.”