Protest held in Peru for release of photographer abducted in Gaza
Demonstrators in Lima call on Palestinian militants to set free AFP's Jaime Razuri.
By ReutersOver a hundred people carrying banners with the portrait of a Peruvian photographer who was abducted in Gaza protested outside the Palestinian mission in Lima on Friday demanding his release.
Jaime Razuri, 50, who works for the French news agency Agence France Press, was seized on Monday by gunmen outside the AFP Gaza City office. No one has claimed responsibility for Razuri's abduction so far.
"Freedom for Jaime," chanted the crowd, which included the photographer's 79-year-old mother, prominent local reporters as well as ordinary Peruvians who flocked to the demonstration after El Comercio daily published a summons for the rally.
It was the latest in a series of abductions of foreign aid workers and reporters in Gaza in the past year. All have been freed unharmed.
The head of the Palestinian mission to Lima, Walid Abdel Rahim, spoke to the crowd and condemned the abduction, saying it was "damaging the just fight" of his people.
Peruvian Deputy Foreign Minister Gonzalo Gutierrez, who is in Gaza to negotiate Razuri's release, told a local radio that according to the information he had received, Razuri was "well and calm." He said Palestinian authorities were cooperating.
Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde said on Wednesday Razuri had been kidnapped by "a dissident group within Hamas," which the Hamas government in Gaza denied, reiterating its call for an immediate and unconditional release of the photographer.
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Peruvian journalists holding pictures of photographer Jaime Razuri attend a protest calling for his release in front of the Palestinian General Delegation in Lima on Friday. (Reuters) |
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... beings. You are doing so against gangsters who would trade in human beings and their body parts - dead or alive - and not against people who respect the rights of others to live. This has been our observation and experience in this beighborhood of the globe.
to shoot themselves in the foot. Let us hope that they don't miss an opportunity to kidnap newsmen from BBC-TV, The Guardian, The Independent, The Statesman, and all the other "liberal" British media, who always paint Arabs and Muslims in the best of colors and Israel in the worst. Don't you agree, Clickfool?
Listen my friend, the jewish people have felt victimized for centuries, that is clear. From their rhetoric to their acts, they act like the victim nation. Poor you. Just one trip from israel to the West Bank is enough to feel sorry for you. Boo hoo.How you suffer at the hands of the al mighty muslim. If, 'amused,' you want to add to the the bandwagon of your cause by seeking ways of how this act will somehow be be linked to the jewish plight, be my guest. But next time, reserve your ignorant comments from the rest of us, please, jewish issues are jewish, and palestinian issues palestinian. Can you do that? Or is your sense of superiority, or suffering as you might call it, blinding you to this argument? Oh please 'amused,' I eagerly await your ignorant response....
Peru as well as most all of the South American continent is a strong Catholic based society. The kidnapping of this Peruvian will do little to get the sympathy of the country or the Continent.
Do you really think it is the way to convert somebody to a religion of "peace"??????. I think all religions proclaims peace, but there are some people that in the name of religions they can do what they want. Please be serious!!! And free Jaime now!!!
We all know a handful of posters here with irrelevant ideas who will find some way to blame Israel or "the Jew" for this act of barbarism. And those who won't blame Israel but who hate Israel (and we know who they are) will simply lay silent re: this act of barbarism, yet they're right there to throw criticism when something Israel does antagonizes them. Bias?
Clearly these people need to CHILL DOWN. While I think foreign diplomats and tourists who go there to be shot at and kidnapped are foolish, I understand media representatives feeling a moral obligation to enter psychopath-land. Israel & Palestine MUST LEGALIZE MARIJUANA and in the meantime, for emergency efforts we should drop tons of emergency relief joints on every major city in Palestine. That is my personal prescription for the Palestnians. Alavai it will be filled.
why can't the palis have their state like today? just imagine that bunch of loonies had to face not only israel but the whole world and the whole world had to face them. that would be big fun, trust me!
This is the way we'll beat the west. Join us or perish. The beautiful religion of peace.