The United States has joined Germany in calling for the release of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who has been detained since a July 3 military coup in Cairo.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Washington and Berlin were in agreement that Morsi should be freed.
The Islamist leader was deposed after massive, nationwide protests against his rule, and he's been held at an undisclosed location since then.
Germany's Foreign Ministry on Friday called for an "end to all restrictive measures considering Morsi."
According to The New York Times, Psaki declined to specify whether the U.S. still recognizes Morsi as the legitimate president of Egypt, but she noted that Washington "has expressed concerns all along about politically motivated, arbitrary arrests of members of the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails," The Associated Press reports.
NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that Psaki wouldn't say if Washington is making its case directly to the Egyptian military.
"She also confirmed that the U.S. ambassador has met with the interim Egyptian president," Kelemen says, adding that the Obama administration, which gives Egypt $1.5 billion a year, has been encouraging an inclusive political process.
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