SANA'A: Efforts to release the head of the French embassy's cultural section, Mr. Irenee Herbert, 28, and his wife,who is an archeologist Mrs. Tara Steimer Herbet, 30, contnued for the third day. Both are said to be linked to the embassy as contract employees, and not diplomats. 

The two French were kidnapped at around 3:00 pm last Friday while travelling on a trip as tourists from the Marib region. The French man and his wife along with a member of Al-Ashraf tribe were in a traditional marketplace in the Sirwah area some 140 km east of the capital Sanaa. Entering Sirwah has been declared forbidden to foreigners because of many incidents, particularly, kidnappings, etc. However, due to the fact that Mrs. Herbet was an archeologist, she seemed to be doing some kind of study that required her to go into the area.Then the two French went through an unpaved road in an area called Habab (an area located in Khowlan/Bani Jabr, Bani Saad). Their driver, the tribe member from Al-Ashraf stopped the car to go to mosque for prayer. The car which was tracked by the kidnapping tribesmen was surrounded and the hostages were taken away. Despite the efforts of the driver to release them in tribal means, the kidnappers refused to release them. 
The kidnappers, who belong to Al-Jabr tribe drove the abducted to a geographically rough area in a mountain called Al-Khanq so that police forces cannot reach them easily. 

Later in the same day, the tribesmen were convinced that the two French civilians will not be as useful as they thought, especially since they claimed to be teachers and were about to be set free. Ironically,on Saturday, they changed their minds after hearing from international news agencies and TV channels that the two kidnapped were French diplomats. This immediately influenced them and they insisted on keeping them captive in an effort to coerce and blackmale the government into paying them a lucrative reward. 

Sheikh Faisal Juzeilan was the person behind the kidnapping. In order to release the couple, Juzeilan, a prominent Sheikh from Al-Jabr tribe, demanded the government to pay compensation for flood damage that occurred a few years ago in the tribes area, as well as other demands; such as machinery equipment, for agricultural use. 
The government is trying not to directly interfere in the negotiations with Al-Jabr tribe. It instead, is depending on Al-Ashraf tribe , which is continuing its negotiations with the tribal members to release the kidnapped hostages. 

Taking this to another level, the French government is putting intense pressure on the Yemeni government, within the past two days to release the hostages. It is expected that joint efforts by the French and Yemeni governments will eventually lead to the release of the hostages, as it has done in other kidnapping cases. 
Some rumors stating that the kidnapped were the French Embassy Commercial Attache had spread all over the country. Later on, news came stating that the Commercial Attache, Mr. Micel Dhe was not kidnapped and in fact, was at the Chancellery on Saturday. 
Even though the French embassy in Sana'a refused to comment or identify the hostages, the issue seems to have risen in the international arena , while the French government pressures the Yemeni government for a swift and unconditional release of the two hostages. 

This incident is the last, in a series of kidnapping incidents that continue to happen, especially to Europeans. Reality is beginning to take its toll on the country's tourism industry which is currently going through the most devastating periods of its time. Yet the question of whether this will end or not is still not answered! 
In a special statement to Yemen Times yesterday, Nasser Ali Al-Hayyal, sheik of Al-Jabr tribe said, " Police forces from the Al-Watada unit are currently proceeding to our tribe's location at to Iyal Al-Saeed in Mareb in an attempt to exert pressure to release the hostages. However, they know that reaching us takes a lot of time and effort." However, reports say that the hostages are in fact not in the area where the troops are heading to because the kidnappers took them to another area where troops cannot easily reach. 

SANA'A: Sana'a's Eastern court, chaired by Judge Mohammed Dahman started its first session in the Bab Al-Yemen explosion. Thirteen people, including the 42-year old murderer, Ali Abdullah Hussein Al-Hijri, were accused in this incident which occurred on Wednesday, August 4th. The general prosecutor listed the following accusations: 
-The murder of 5 innocent men with a Russian made hand grenade thrown into a crowd of 42 people. 
-The murder of 2 men with his machine gun. 
-The attempted killing of 38 people with an explosive Russian hand grenade. 
-Attempted murder with a deadly weapon on three innocent men. 
-Assault of a number of policemen while trying to save the injured and trying to stabilize conditions. 
-Breaking and Entering into the house of Fatima Ali Zeyd Al-Sayyani. 
-Carrying deadly arms and explosives without a license. 

The prosecutor also accused the 4 men of attempting to deceive Al-Hijri by selling him a watch for a much higher price than it is worth. After realizing that the watch was not worth the price, Al-Hijri demanded his YR 4,000 back. However, the watch salesman refused and instead Ammar Mohammed Murad took the watch and ran away. The murderer then could not control his nerves and threw the bomb at him in a crowd. 

The 12 men were also accused by the attorney to have tried to gain profit by misleading the customer to buy a watch that does not have a value of no more than YR 500 for YR 2000. 
The prosecutor demanded that the death penalty be imposed on Al-Hijr and sentence the rest to prison. 

Attorney Mohammed Naji Allaw had been appointed by the families of the victims in this case. On the other hand, Abdulmalik Al-Khateeb and Mohamed Ahmed Hameed were appointed as the lawyers of the 12 other defendants, while Al-Hijri had no legitimate lawyer because his family did not want to provide legal representation. 

All in all, despite all the attempts of the prosecution to have Al-Hijri confess, he did not say a word in the whole hearing. The next session is scheduled to be held next week. Depending on official sources, the incident originated from an argument between Al-Hijri and a watch salesmen for the price of a watch. 

The Director of the London based Article 19 Organization (International Centre Against Censorship), Mr. Malcom Smart sent a letter to President Saleh regarding the latest incidents against the free press. In its introductory statement, the organization said the following: 

"International law states that everyone should have the right to freedom of expression and access to information. These rights make up the most potent force to pre-empt repression, conflict, war, genocide and underpin and safeguard other fundamental human rights". In its letter, the organization expressed deep concern over the recent development regarding the oppression of the free press. 

They drove the attention to the last lawsuits issued against two newspaper journalists, namely Al-Ayyam's chief editor, Hisham Basharaheel, who received a 6 month jail sentence and reporter Ali Haitham Al-Ghareeb received a 10 month jail sentence. The organization described the clear contradiction between what is said by the government and what is implemented in practice, especially since the country had gathered 16 nations in the last Emerging Democracies Forum held in Sana'a. The organization expressed its dissatisfaction with the recent violations against journalists. They stated that such acts discourage journalists of doing their job adequately. Knowing the possibility of being interrogated when writing an article or reporting an incident, these journalists prefer not to do it. In the hope that the leadership would prevent such acts in the future, the organization requested a quick response in cancelling the issued sentences. 

SANA'A: The official investigation in the helicopter crash that took place approximately 10 days ago has finally reached a conclusion. The final report states that the incident happened as a direct result of the pilot's fault during the inspection flight over Al-Abr desert in the Hadramout Province. 

The helicopter crashed in August while on duty. All 17 men who were on board died immediately after the crash, which resulted in a wrecked helicopter. The burned bodies of the victims were barely identifiable due to the furious fire that erupted on the plane, which was thought to be loaded with explosives and other weapons. The government had furiously denied the claims of the Islamist Abyan Army which claimed responsibility for this horrible crash. 

The report also stated that the high temperatures and the pilot's inability to control the plane moments after takeoff had caused the helicopter to fall from a 1300m height to the ground. The extra weight on the helicopter was also a factor in the crash. 
The final results of the investigation were given by the official media and newspapers and the dead were buried at the martyrs' graveyard in Sana'a City last Monday.