French woman freed from captivity in Yemen

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.

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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.