CAIRO, Jun 21 (Aswat Masriya) - Qatari network Al Jazeera called on Sunday for Germany to "immediately release" its journalist Ahmed Mansour, who was arrested a day earlier upon landing in Berlin. 

The Qatari network said Mansour was taken in at the request of Egyptian authorities, in a statement published on its website. 

Egypt is seeking to recover Mansour's file, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sunday. A spokesman for the German Federal Police told Reuters on Saturday that the general public prosecution was checking a possible extradition to Egypt. 

The senior Al Jazeera journalist will remain in detention until Monday when a German judge will decide on his case, Al Jazeera cited Mansour as saying over the phone. 

Mansour holds dual Egyptian and British citizenship, according to Reuters. 

He was about to board a flight to Qatari capital Doha when the arrest was made. 

In a message from detention, Mansour said "it is quite ludicrous that a country like Germany would enforce and support such a request made by a dictatorial regime like the one we have in Egypt."

His lawyer told Al Jazeera that his arrest was "politically motivated". 

However, Egypt said Mansour is a "fugitive" and that he and others had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for detaining a citizen for days and torturing him.

Mansour was sentenced in absentia and has denied the charges. 

The Egyptian Interior Ministry added that the police has previously circulated the names of all convicted and wanted people who fled the country to member states of the Interpol, the international police organisation. 

But both Al Jazeera and Mansour claim that Interpol has "rejected Egypt's request" for an international arrest warrant. 

"The Interpol itself cleared my name," Mansour said in his message from Germany, adding that he has a document from the Interpol to prove that he is not wanted for any charge.

Al Jazeera's Acting Director General Mostefa Souag believes that the Qatari network has "taken the brunt" of a "crackdown on journalists by Egyptian authorities." 

In December 2013, three Al Jazeera journalists were arrested in Cairo and kept in detention for at least 400 days. They had initially been sentenced to prison in June 2014 but now face retrial. 

Egyptian ties with Qatar have deteriorated following the army's ouster of former president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013, which was prompted by mass protests against his rule. 

Qatar was a strong supporter of Mursi's regime.