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Alert

Journalist receives death threat

(IPYS/IFEX) - On 22 January 2010, José Atauje, a journalist and correspondent for the national TV station América Televisión, was verbally harassed and received a death threat from an unidentified individual who called his cell phone and spoke with a distorted voice. The journalist was able to record the number from which the threat was made. The incident took place in the Ayacucho region of southern Perú.

According to the journalist, the threat could be the consequence of a report he issued about Alfredo Quispe, the lawyer for terrorist leader Abimael Guzmán, who publicly announced the registration of the Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights political party with the National Elections Panel.

IPYS and other journalists' associations in the region condemned the threat against Atauje, stating that the press has an obligation to report on all issues that, like this one, are matters of public interest.