A French development worker, Isabelle Prime, captured in Yemen in February this year, has been released and is heading back to France, the French President’s office has announced.
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She is now in the hands of French authorities and will be returned to France “in the coming hours”, according to a statement early Friday from the presidential Elysee palace.
There is no confirmation yet on the identity of Prime’s kidnappers.
Hollande’s office said it shared the joy of Prime’s family upon news of her freedom.
“The President of the Republic (Francois Hollande) needs to thank all those that helped attain this effect, and in specific Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, the Sultan of Oman”, the assertion stated, with out offering any particulars on her liberation.
Details of her release, including which group had been holding her, were not divulged.
“Please bring me to France fast because I’m really, really exhausted”, she had said in the video.
“I tried to kill myself several times because I know you will not co-operate and I totally understand”.
In recent years tribesmen in Yemen have kidnapped foreigners as a means of putting pressure on the government to provide them with better services or to release jailed relatives.
CNN was unable to verify the authenticity of the video, but the French Foreign Ministry said the woman appeared to be Prime.
But in December, US journalist Luke Somers and South African teacher Pierre Korkie died during a failed attempt by US commandos to rescue them from an Al-Qaeda hideout in southeastern Yemen.
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For the past four months, a Saudi-led coalition has been bombing Houthi targets. U.S. officials said they were killed by the terrorists.
