British Journalist to Be Freed By Pakistan

Pakistan's intelligence agencies were today expected to release a British journalist who has been held for more than two weeks on suspicion of spying for India.

Amardeep Bassey, 29, a reporter on the Sunday Mercury in Birmingham, was held as he crossed the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan at the Khyber Pass this month. For two weeks he was interrogated by investigators from Pakistan's intelligence agencies who believed he was a spy because of his Indian origins.

His interrogators have now told Pakistan's interior ministry there is no case against the journalist and that he should be deported.

Tariq Ahmad Khan, from Pakistan's human rights commission, visited Mr Bassey in jail yesterday. "He was happy to hear he will be going home. But he is tired. This has been a long imprisonment and he is clearly not a spy," said Mr Khan. "He is just a humble soul, a nice guy."

Mr Bassey travelled from Peshawar, in northwest Pakistan, to Kabul. When he returned to the Pakistan border two days later he was arrested for not having an exit stamp in his passport. Police were apparently suspicious of his wristwatch, which had a built-in digital camera. Indian citizens in Pakistan are given restricted visas and closely watched by intelligence agents.

David Brookes, the editor of the Sunday Mercury, said: "We're greatly relieved Amardeep will soon be back in Britain. It's the news his family, friends and colleagues have been waiting for."