A French woman who was abducted in Yemen in February has been freed and has arrived in Oman, state media said.
French
President Francois Hollande’s office said in a statement early on Friday
that the woman, Isabelle Prime, would return to France in the coming
hours.
“Our compatriot Isabelle Prime has been freed tonight,” the statement said.
“The
president … wishes to thank all those who helped reach this outcome, and
in particular Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, the Sultan of Oman,” the
statement said, without providing any details on her liberation.
Prime and
her Yemeni translator Shereen Makawi were abducted by fighters in the
capital Sanaa on February 24, while the pair were on their way to work.
Yemeni tribal sources said in March that Prime would be released, but only Makawi was freed at the time.
In recent
years tribesmen have taken foreigners hostage to press the government to
provide them with services or to free jailed relatives.
Yemen
is also home to one of the most active branches of al-Qaeda, to which
tribal kidnappers have reportedly often sold their kidnapped victims.
In June,
France had authenticated a video that showed Prime, a consultant for
Yemen’s Social Fund for Development, crouching on sand and in distress.
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