Isabelle Prime Kidnapping: French hostage released by Yemeni captors

Prime was abducted in February along with her translator, who was later released

A Yemeni man reads a local newspaper publishing a photograph of kidnapped French aid worker Isabelle Prime (right) and her Yemeni colleague Shireen Makkauy (EPA)

A French woman who was abducted in Yemen in February has been freed, French officials have said.

Isabelle Prime, 31, was working in Yemen as a consultant on a World Bank funded project when she was kidnapped. She was abducted in the capital Sanaa, which is held by rebels.

Her kidnappers also abducted her Yemeni translator, who was released shortly after.

In June, a video was released in which Prime made an appeal to French and Yemeni authorities for her release. Dressed in black and appearing visibly distressed, she told the camera that she was “really, really tired”. She said that she had tried to kill herself “several times” because she feared she would never be released.

A statement from the presidential Elysee palace said that Prime is now in the hands of French authorities and will be returned to France “in the coming hours.”

Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world. It has been under a maritime blockade by a coalition of Arab states since neighbouring Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes on rebel-held positions in March this year.

With additional reporting by AP