Two teenagers and 5 engineers still held in 7 month kidnap ordealThe hostages endure terrible conditions [Archives:2008/1140/Front Page]
Almigdad Mojalli
Sana'a, 23 March ) The kidnapper of two Yemeni teenagers and another five Yemeni engineers has threatened to kill the hostages if the Ministry of the Interior use military force to secure their release. The kidnappings took place in Bani Dhabian, Khawlan, 50km east of Sana'a. Abdrabu Alttam, the principal captor, warned the Yemen Times in a telephone conversation: “We lay all responsibility on the Ministry for anything that happens to them”.
Before he releases the hostages, Alttam has demanded a ransom of YR150 million as well as his YR70 million share in a disputed plot of land. According to Alttam the government is liable for its failure to help him resolve a dispute with three business partners, and should help pay the ransom to release the hostages.
The two teenage hostages involved in the case, Abdul Allah Ali Saleh al-Komin (15) and Mohammad Yahya Naser al-Komim (17) were kidnapped in Sana'a in June 2007. According to security statements, the teenagers were isolated a remote district of Bani Dhabian when they were taken. Alttam's involvement in a land dispute led him to kidnap the boys because they shared the same surname (al-Komin) as one of the protagonists in the dispute. Their families have continuously emphasised their innocence.
On Jan. 8, 2008 after the case had stagnated for six months, Alttam's frustration led him to take further hostages. Five engineers, who were surveying a road project in Bani Dhabain, were kidnapped by Alttam, increasing his group of hostages to seven. These five men, according to Ismail al-Moayed, their manager at Yemen Rock Office, had no relation to Alttam's dispute.
“I know that neither the two children nor the engineers should take any responsibility for my problem, and I know that they have no blood relations to my opponents. I kidnapped them to oblige the government to help me take my rights from my opponents”, said Alttam. He added, ” here is no government. We live in a jungle that has no law or justice otherwise the state would have helped me resolve my problem.”
At the centre of the dispute is an area of land located in the al-Safiya neighbourhood of Sana'a. Alttam claims that he part-owned the land and that he had agreed with his fellow proprietors to sell the plot to Ali Mohsen al-Ahmer, the head of the northwest military district. But Alttam claims that despite the successful sale of the land, he never received his share of the proceeds. Instead his partners, Ahmed Obaid Shereif, Saleh Naji Khassa'an and Abdullah Al-Kumaim, sold the land to al-Ahmer for YR70 million and never gave him his share.
Rafeeq Radman, one of the kidnapped engineers, affirmed that the hostages have to endure terrible conditions and are monitored by a strict guard detail. According to Radman, he and his fellow hostages suffer from disease and malnutrition, but have no access to the necessary medicines or even to basic ablutions. Without a bathroom, a toilet, or running water, he commented, “We all live together in one room and have eaten only two kinds of food, Ased [local food], and beans, since we were kidnapped three months ago.” Three food-strikes on consecutive days brought no reward and, as Radman added, “one of my colleagues is suffering from stomach sores and needs medicine”.
The engineers and the parents of the two captured teenagers have appealed to the President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to help free them as soon as possible.
Dr Mansour al-Zendani MP said that the parliament had summoned the Minister of the Interior, Dr Rashad al-Alemi, to explain the security issues in the country and the question of the kidnapping. The discussion, however, was waived in favour of a debate about disarmament and its consequences. Al-Zendani added that the parliament will question the minister about the issues of the kidnaps on today, March 24.
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