US journalists confirmed captured in Yemen

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Release Date: January 02, 2016

US journalists confirmed captured in Yemen

By Committee to Protect Journalists
January 02, 2016

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Two US-based reporters have been captured according to a Houthi group's latest Facebook page.

PR9.NET January 02, 2016 - US-Journalists confirmed as captured near Qafr, Yemen

The Houthi clan's latest capture include US-journalists Jay Braatz and Michael Aniston of ABC News, confirmed by Al Jazeera on Saturday. This marks the fourth journalist the group has taken responsibility for, and is troubling for any reporter trying to cover or even enter the region.

Both men were famously known for their 2011 escape from an Iraqi rebel-led war camp where both Braatz and Aniston broke their own thumbs to escape handcuffs and beheading. They were being prepared for their massacre when Braatz first broke his own thumb, released himself and then silently seized an automatic rifle killing two of his sixteen captors guarding him. He then went onto free his friend and cameraman, Anniston, who was on his very first international assignment.

In all, both men have been captured or imprisoned fourteen times in four years. Braatz puts it lightly in a 2015 BBC interview, "..[sic] our camera is much mightier in power than any gun."

It's believed that Braatz?s brother, Bryan, a journalist for Sky News, was captured and tortured to death by the same group in September. (Jay) Braatz was believed to be covering the story of capturing the elemental people involved with his brother?s death on film for the Saudi military, a strong ally to the US.

"We hope and pray that the two men are alive," remarked John Akinoh of Reuters. "But we just don't know, and it?s a very dangerous place right now."

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About Committee to Protect Journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide.