SANA’A: Gunmen kidnapped a South African couple from the central Yemeni city of Taiz yesterday over a land dispute between a local chief and the authorities, security officials said. The pair of tourists were seized while they were outside a hotel in the eastern part of the city, said one security official who requested anonymity.
The kidnappers came from the area of Janadiyah, some 35km east of Taiz, said another official.
They belonged to a local chief who has had a long-running dispute with the authorities over a plot of land, he said, adding the tourists could be used for bargaining. Several other security sources confirmed the abducted couple were South Africans. Although kidnappings of foreigners in Yemen are frequent, Taiz — one of the country’s biggest cities — has not been the scene of hostage-taking.
13 on trial for child trafficking in Algeria
ALGIERS: Thirteen people, including dual nationality French-Algerians, went on trial in Algiers yesterday accused of kidnapping Algerian children and selling them for adoption in France. The case first emerged in 2009 and the prosecution alleges the defendants kidnapped an unknown number of children and transported them to the French city of Saint-Etienne, where they were adopted for a fee.
Seven of the accused appeared in court for the start of the trial, which has been repeatedly delayed, but none of the French suspects of Algerian origin living in Saint-Etienne were present.
“There was no appropriation of children,” said Allel Boutouili, the lawyer of the main suspect, Dr Khelifa Hanouti, who has been in jail since March 2009.AFP
