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Abducted AFP photographer freed in Gaza
AFP photographer Jaime Razuri was freed in the Gaza Strip on Sunday seven days after he was abducted by masked gunmen.
Updated : Nov 19, 2013, 11:17 PM IST
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GAZA CITY: AFP photographer Jaime Razuri was freed in the Gaza Strip on Sunday seven days after he was abducted by masked gunmen.
Palestinian security forces handed the 50-year-old Peruvian to AFP representatives at Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's compound in Gaza City just before 1800 GMT.
Minutes after his release, a relieved Razuri said, "I'm fine. I'm very happy to be released. They treated me well and gave me good food." He also thanked "all those who were involved in my release".
"It was not a five-star hotel, but it was very good. I was treated very well. I'm as well as I was when I arrived in Gaza," Razuri said.
The photographer was snatched by four gunmen outside AFP's offices in Gaza City on January 1 as he was returning from an assignment. No group had claimed responsibility for the abduction or issued any demands.
Palestinian security sources said Sunday that it appeared one of Gaza's powerful clans was holding Razuri in Gaza City.
"I'm very happy that everything ended well. We were only doing our duty," Mohammed Dahlan, a top official in Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party who was involved in securing Razuri's release, said.
Both Peru and France have condemned the abduction, and diplomatic efforts -- led by Peruvian Deputy Foreign Minister Gonzalo Gutierrez and backed by French diplomats -- had been under way for days to secure Razuri's release.
Abbas and the Hamas-led government have both criticized his kidnapping, saying it harmed Palestinian interests.
Razuri has covered stories for AFP in Latin America, the Middle East and Europe, including a three-month stint in Iraq in 2006.
Abductions of foreigners have been fairly common in the impoverished Gaza Strip, with 20 such cases over the past year.
In most instances, the kidnappers used the hostages as bargaining chips to gain concessions from the Palestinian Authority, and the detainees were released unharmed within days.
In August, two journalists from the US-based Fox News television network spent two weeks in captivity before being released safely.
