UK pushes Houthis to release Briton Luke Symons from prison in Sanaa
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called on the leader of the Houthis to free a Welshman held illegally for four years in a Yemeni prison.
Luke Symons, from Cardiff, was detained in April 2017 in Sanaa, and accused of spying for the UK, but has never been put on trial.
Mr Raab wrote to Abdulmalik Al Houthi, the head of the Houthi movement that controls Yemen’s capital, to urge him to release Mr Symons, 29, immediately.
He offered to help to get the Muslim convert, his Yemeni wife and their young son back to Britain.
Mr Symons’s family was told the foreign secretary had said several hundred wounded Houthi fighters were returned to Sanaa on two planes after medical treatment last year but there had been no movement on Mr Symons’s release, despite expectations of a reciprocal concession.
The return of the fighters in October appeared to be connected to the release of two Americans in a deal brokered by Saudi Arabia and Oman.
The push for Mr Symons’s freedom came as Saudi Arabia opened an initiative to end the six-year conflict with a ceasefire, the reopening of Sanaa’s airport and efforts to rebuild the shattered country.
The Houthis control much of Yemen, including Sanaa, and rebuffed Riyadh’s overtures, despite support for the plan from the US, the UN and the internationally recognised Yemeni government.
Mr Symons, now known as Jamal after converting to Islam, travelled to Yemen before the war, which left the country in the grip of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. He made several failed attempts to leave with his family before he was arrested at a checkpoint in Houthi-held Sanaa.
His family believe he was detained only because security forces discovered he had a British passport. His wife and son, 4, are in the south-western city of Taez and have made sporadic visits, including one last week. “The young man is not happy,” said Robert Cummings, his grandfather, who leads the campaign for his freedom. “He’s asking when he is going to be freed – a question that we can’t answer.
“Nobody from the British government has stood up and asked the question: ‘Why is Luke still in prison?’ He has never been charged, never been
sentenced. Why is he there?”
Mr Symons has been seen only once by a UN official after being taken from prison to a nearby building. The meeting was monitored by security guards and he later told his family he was unable to give details about his treatment in jail. Human rights groups report widespread torture in Houthirun prisons.
He stayed behind bars despite a Houthi investigation finding no evidence that Mr Symons was involved in espionage.
Release papers were signed in December 2018 at a time when UN efforts to end the conflict appeared to be making progress, with an agreement in Sweden for a series of ceasefires and a prisoner exchange.
But rivalries between Houthi factions blocked the release plans and the peace proposals stalled.
Hopes were raised again last year when Mr Symons was moved from a jail for political
prisoners to another one also in Sanaa. His family hoped the move was the final preparation for his release but it proved to be another false dawn.
Mr Cummings said he was angry that the UK government had failed to have his grandson released despite Britain being a major aid donor to Yemen.
The UK has given more than £1 billion ($1.37bn) in aid since the start of the war in March 2015. It also spent £342,000 in direct support to the peace process and seconded advisers to UN special envoy Martin Griffiths, the government said.
The UK’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on any letters
sent to the Houthis.
“We appreciate this is a difficult time for Luke Symons and his family,” a representative said.
“Our staff have been working intensively, and are engaging at all levels with regional partners, to secure his release.”