from ChicagoTribune.com
Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Tribune correspondent Paul Salopek was charged with espionage, passing information illegally and writing "false news" today in a Sudanese court. Salopek has been held since August 6, 2006, when he was arrested in Darfur while on assignment for National Geographic during a leave of absence from the Tribune. Both his driver and his interpreter have been similarly charged. The trial has been set for Sept. 10th.
It has been a scary week for journalists overseas: Fox News correspondent Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig have been in the hands of kidnappers in Gaza since August 14th, and New York Times researcher Zhao Yan was sentenced to three years in prison in China yesterday.
Both the Tribune and National Geographic are working to secure Salopek's release and Senator Barack Obama, in Africa on a separate trip, is "monitoring the situation" according to the AP.
