Japanese technician abducted in Yemen

 Source: boulder weekly

Tuesday, November 17,2009

By McClatchy-Tribune News Service

SAN'A, Yemen — A Japanese technician and his Yemeni driver were abducted Sunday by a tribal group in Yemen, according to the Japanese Embassy in Yemen.

The two were abducted in Arhab, a city close to the nation's capital, San'a. They are said to be in good physical condition, and the Yemeni government has began negotiations with the group for their release, the embassy said.

According to a Japanese government source, the 63-year-old technician, works for an architectural design office in Tokyo.

The man and the driver were abducted Sunday afternoon while on their way to a school construction site located northeast of the capital.

Later in the day, the embassy received a phone call from the man saying he had been abducted. The embassy is able to contact the man via cell phone, the embassy said.

There has been no ransom demand. However, according to Agence France Presse, local sources told the news agency the tribal group is demanding that the Yemeni government release a member of the tribe who has been detained for four years without trial.

According to the Web site of the man's company, the firm has been helping construct schools in Africa and Southeast Asia at the behest of the Foreign Ministry or the Japan International Cooperation Agency. The office received an order to build primary and middle schools in Yemen in 2005, and the man has been working in the area where he was kidnapped since March.

Foreigners are frequently abducted in Yemen, mainly in areas ruled by tribal groups that are beyond the control of the central government. More than 200 abductions have been reported since 1990, including a case in May 2008 in which two Japanese tourists were abducted at gunmen. They were released later in the month unharmed.

The Metropolitan Police Department on Tuesday began investigating the incident as a case of kidnapping for ransom, after learning that the kidnapped man is a Tokyo resident.

The MPD applied a Penal Code provision that allows it to investigate serious crimes overseas involving Japanese. The prefectural police in charge of the area where the victim resides will handle the case.

Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.