A Welsh man who has spent five years in a Yemen jail for having a British passport has been freed and is set to be reunited with his family. Luke Symons was accused of being a spy when he was found with a British passport in Yemen.
Luke, from Cardiff, had travelled across the Middle East when he was 20 and met his now-wife in Yemen. Now aged 30, the former barber had been held by the Houthi authorities in the capital Sanaa ever since his arrest at a security checkpoint in the southwestern city of Ta’iz on April 4, 2017. His family claim he had been mistreated in prison.
On Sunday UK Government foreign secretary Liz Truss said: "Delighted that Luke Symons, who was unlawfully detained, without charge or trial since 2017 in Yemen by the Houthis, has been released and will shortly be reunited with his family. I pay tribute to our Omani and Saudi partners and our team for securing his release."
