UN president faces 'serious' death threats
Last Updated: Monday, December 15, 2008 | 9:04 PM ET
CBC News
Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann has received death threats online this past week. (Eskinder Debebe/UN/Associated Press)The president of the United Nations General Assembly has received "very serious" online death threats, his spokesman said Monday.
The threats against Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann were posted in the past week, spokesman Enrique Yeves said. U.S. authorities have been asked to help the UN investigate.
Yeves would not give any details about the threats or say where online they were posted.
D'Escoto, a Roman Catholic priest and former Nicaraguan foreign minister, took over the presidency of the UN in September.
A vocal left-winger, he has been highly critical of the United States, once referring to U.S. President Ronald Reagan as the "butcher" of his people.
The 75-year-old has also attacked Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.
He was quoted in the Jerusalem Post in November as saying the international community should consider a boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel similar to those used against South Africa decades earlier.
With files from the Associated PressShare Tools
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