Palestinians free AFP photographer-officials
Source: Reuters
(Adds comment from Peruvian government, Razuri's mother, paragraphs 5-7) GAZA, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Palestinian militants in Gaza freed a photographer from French news agency Agence France-Presse on Sunday after keeping him captive for almost a week, officials said. Unidentified gunmen had kidnapped 50-year-old Jaime Razuri, a native of Peru, outside the agency's office in Gaza City last Monday. Palestinian security officers brought Razuri to Abbas's office Sunday. "The good efforts by all parties have succeeded in returning the Peruvian journalist," said senior Abbas aide Tayeb Abdel-Rahim. "He is now free. The security services will continue their work to get to the captors." No one has yet claimed responsibility for his abduction. Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde told reporters in Lima that the Peruvian government did not negotiate his release. "There were negotiations between a group called the Durmush family and the Palestinian authorities," he said. Belaunde said he had spoken with Razuri, who was well and was preparing to leave the country. He said Razuri was accompanied by deputy foreign minister Gonzalo Gutierrez who went to Gaza last week to help set him free. Razuri's 79-year-old mother, Delia Razuri, said after speaking to her son by telephone: "I'm crying with joy. He told me he loves me a lot and that he wants to be back with us soon." "I am delighted about Mr Jaime Razuri's release and am thanking all those who have contributed to it," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said in a statement. His kidnapping is the latest in a spate of abductions of foreign journalists and aid workers in Gaza in the past year. All have been released unharmed. Militants have abducted foreigners usually to try to put pressure on the Palestinian government to give them jobs or press for the release of detained colleagues, including those inside prisons in Israel. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Jean Luis Arce in Lima)
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