BREAKING NEWS

Colombia: Ex-spy chief granted asylum in Panama

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

NOVEMBER 20, 2010 07:41

PANAMA CITY — Panama granted asylum to a former head of Colombia's disgraced secret police Friday, saying she has legitimate reasons to fear for her life.

Maria del Pilar Hurtado, who is in Panama and petitioned for asylum Thursday, is under investigation in a scandal prompted by revelations that the DAS domestic intelligence agency she headed in 2007-2008 spied on judges, journalists and rights activists opposed to then-President Alvaro Uribe.

She was granted asylum after "a careful analysis of the request ... and the circumstances of reasonable fear for her personal security that prompted her to leave her country," the Panamanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It gave no details on Hurtado's claim that her life was in danger.

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