Germans and Dutchwoman released in Kenya: Germany

BERLIN (Reuters) - Two German men and a Dutch woman arrested by Kenyan authorities on suspicion of terrorism have been released, the German Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

A spokesman for the ministry said Gerd Uwe Hauth, Andrej Hermlin and Dutch national Fleur Van Dissel had been released from custody on Saturday. He said he could not provide details about why they had been freed.

Kenyan authorities on Friday said the three had been arrested on Thursday night at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport night on suspicion of conducting terrorist activities.

Hermlin's Kenyan wife Joyce told Reuters she had spoken to her husband, who is a well-known musician in Germany.

"He called me from Kenya. He's doing well," she said, adding he had not explained why he had been released.

According to Kenyan police, the three entered the country as journalists. The police said they were found with photos of "vital installations" and had been behaving suspiciously.

A spokesman for Kenya's opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) on Friday said Van Dissel had been making a documentary about the party's leader Raila Odinga, following a disputed election in the country on December 27.

Odinga, a former political prisoner, accuses President Mwai Kibaki -- who narrowly won the vote -- of election fraud.

Hundreds of foreign reporters descended on Nairobi for the polls and many more arrived after Kibaki's re-election triggered political and ethnic violence which has killed around 650 people.

(Reporting by Jost Maurin; writing by Dave Graham; editing by Andrew Roche)