Saudi diplomat held by Yemen’s Qaeda appeals for his release in new video

Suspected al-Qaeda militants in Yemen have posted a video on the Internet of a Saudi diplomat kidnapped nearly a month ago in Yemen’s south appealing to King Abdullah to meet al-Qaeda demands to secure his release.

“I appeal to King Abdullah ... and the Saudi government to save me and release me from al-Qaeda organization in return for releasing the sisters detained in (Saudi) general investigation prisons and fulfilling the remaining demands of the organization,” Abdullah al-Khalidi said in the video, posted late on Friday and published by SITE Intelligence Group.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula abducted Khalidi, Saudi Arabia’s deputy consul in Yemen’s main southern city of Aden, on March 28 in a bid to secure the release of prisoners and collect a ransom.

“I also appeal to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (King Abdullah) to return me to my family, my children and my wife,” said Khalidi who appeared calm in the nearly four-minute video.

A Saudi interior ministry spokesman, cited by the official SPA news agency, warned that the abductors were “responsible for the security of Abdullah al-Khalidi.”

The spokesman added that there was no indication of when the video was recorded, suggesting that Riyadh had not had news of the hostage’s fate.

Attacks on al-Qaeda by Yemeni forces and suspected U.S. drones have increased lately, including an air raid on May 6 that killed jihadist network leader Fahd al-Quso, wanted by Washington in connection with the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden harbor.

U.S. media reported that a spy, reportedly a “mole” or “double agent,” spent weeks with AQAP and garnered sensitive information that allowed the Central Intelligence Agency to launch the drone strike against Quso.

Khalidi is the third Saudi to be kidnapped in Yemen in recent years.