Henk Tepper's lawyers hopeful of man's release

A Lebanese prosecutor now has the final piece of documentation needed to rule on whether Canadian potato farmer Henk Tepper will be released from his Beirut jail cell into a lawyer's custody.

Tepper, 44, has been held in Lebanon since March 23, accused under an international arrest warrant of selling bad potatoes to Algeria.

An Interpol "red notice"requested by the Algerian government called for Tepper's detainment for the alleged use of a forged document that cleared rotten food for sale for human consumption.

The letter Interpol has sent to Lebanese general prosecutor Saeed Mirza indicates the international policing agency is indeed reviewing the red notice, according to James Mockler, Henk Tepper's lawyer.

"We have to wait for his decision,"Mockler said. "The timeframe remains unknown.

"It's my understanding that this was the last piece of the puzzle that the Lebanese authorities required in order for him to make a decision on whether to, at the very least, remove Henk from the prison."

Mockler added: "But that's just step one, it doesn't get him home."