Off the wire
• Xinhua world news summary at 1600 GMT, Sept. 27  • Experience China kicks off in Indonesia promoting people-to-people contact  • U.S. stocks rebound after first presidential debate  • Chinese, CEEC capital cities agree to have mutually beneficial cooperation  • One in five Spaniards has never used Internet: study  • Spotlight: Chinese premier expounds China's views during his New York trip  • Feature: Daily meal retains Namibian learners in schools  • Egypt picks up sunken migrant boat, death toll rises to 195  • Chinese VP highlights int'l cooperation in science, technology  • Germany plans wide coverage of 5G networks by 2025  
You are here: 　 Home

U.S. demands immediate release of citizens held in Yemen

Xinhua, September 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

The U.S. government on Tuesday urged the Houthis in Yemen to immediately release any U.S. citizens being held.

"We are deeply concerned by reports of U.S. citizens being unjustly detained by the Houthi-controlled National Security Bureau in Yemen," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner in a statement.

Such detentions are unacceptable, put in jeopardy any Houthi efforts to establish that they are credible and responsible interlocutors, and invite serious questions about their commitment to seek a lasting peace for Yemen, Toner said.

He warned that should any U.S. citizens unjustly held in Yemen be harmed, "it would be the responsibility of those organizations, groups, or individuals detaining them."

The U.S. is monitoring the situation in Yemen very closely and calls on the Houthis to immediately release any U.S. citizens currently being held, he added.

Toner did not disclose the names of Americans detained in Yemen, but media reports have said that an American teacher named Peter Willems was kidnapped last Tuesday from the Exceed Language Center in Sanaa, Yemen's capital, by rebels aligned with the Houthis. Endit