Yemen is grappling with myriad problems, including kidnappings of foreigners and attacks on public infrastructure, as it tries to restore state authority lost in 2011 during mass protests that forced out veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Judith Spiegel, a Dutch journalist held since early June, said in the video that she and her partner had “addressed” their country’s ambassador in Sanaa recently with the kidnappers’ demands but nothing had been done to bring about their release.
“Now there’s another 10 days to do something. These people are armed. If no solution is found after 10 days, they’ll shoot us dead,” Spiegel, speaking in Dutch, said in a trembling voice. She did not say how the couple had contacted the ambassador.
Her partner, Boudewijn Berendsen, said they were afraid. “Everyone in the Netherlands should get the government and the ambassador into action,” he said, seated beside her.
The Dutch embassy in Sanaa referred questions to the foreign ministry in The Hague, where no officials could be reached.
A Yemeni police source said last month that Spiegel, who had been working in Yemen as a researcher, vanished with her partner after they left their home in Sanaa’s Hadda district, which houses many diplomatic missions.
No one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
Several Westerners have been kidnapped this year in the impoverished state, where a transitional government is struggling to impose law outside the main cities.
