Al Qaeda Takes Japanese Hostage from Tribal Kidnappers
Update 2: Released unharmed, November 24.
Update: The governor of Sana’a says he is still with the original group of tribal kidnappers and negotiations are underway. Yemeni officials do not have a great record of telling the truth but in this case I hope its true.
If the imprisoned tribesman is 22, then he was 14 when he went to fight in Iraq??
“Sources at the Inferior Ministry confirmed that he person from Arahab tribes because of who was the kidnapping incident is accused of his affiliation to al-Qaeda organisation, who is Hussein Abdullah Hussein Qoub, fought in Iraq for two years and settled in Syria for one year and in Lebanon for another year and he was arrested after his return from Iraq four years ago.”
Original Post: Damn. An earlier report here. As an aside, the reason the 22 year old was held by the state without charges after fighting in Iraq is that jihad (murder) abroad is not illegal in Yemen and is often encouraged by the President on national TV, for example during the Lebanon crisis.
Hammoud Mounassar, AFP Al-Qaeda gunmen have seized a Japanese engineer from his tribal kidnappers in Yemen, a tribal source who has been seeking to negotiate his release said on Saturday.
“The hostage was seized by elements of Al-Qaeda, who took him to an unknown destination in the Maarib region,” east of the capital, Sanaa, one of two tribal mediators told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The man, identified by Japanese media as 63-year-old Takeo Mashimo, was kidnapped on Sunday in Arhab, northeast of Sanaa, by tribesmen seeking to exchange him for one of their relatives being held by police.
He was seized by Al-Qaeda on Friday night, with a second mediator saying Al-Qaeda became involved after being approached by someone close to the detained tribesman who was opposed to the Japanese hostage’s release.
The 22-year-old man whose release was being sought by the tribesmen was imprisoned by US forces for a year in Iraq, according to a source in Yemen.He was later arrested in Syria before being held in Sanaa, where he was sentenced to two years in prison without charges, the same source said….
Jalil said they (the tribesmen) had agreed to release the hostage in exchange for their relative within 15 days. But at the last minute, they came back saying they want him liberated in three days,” the sheikh said. The kidnappers were distrustful because a previous promise by President Ali Abdullah Saleh to release a detainee was not fulfilled, sources close to them said….
Yemeni tribes habitually kidnap foreigners to put pressure on local authorities. More than 200 foreigners have been seized during the past 15 years, with most being freed unharmed.
But five Germans and a Briton who were taken captive in June in the north of the country are still missing and with no word on their fate.
They were among nine people seized in the northern Saada region, the stronghold of Shiite rebels at war with the Sanaa government. The three others in the group — two Germans and a South Korean — were killed.
