US demands immediate release of citizens held in Yemen
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E-mail Xinhua, September 28, 2016
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.
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