Vignette. ‘Kidnapping is part of tourism’ [0015]
‘After plucking him from a street in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, on Thanksgiving Day, Mahoney’s captors slaughtered goats in his honor, invited him to join in daily sessions of chewing khat, a mildly narcotic plant—he declined—and tried to keep his spirits up with cookies, tea and cigarettes. They also arranged for him to teach an English class in a local school. “Kidnapping in Yemen is hospitality,” said Abdullah Ahmar, speaker of the Yemeni parliament and the leader of Yemen’s Hashid tribe, the country’ largest. “Kidnapping is part of tourism; it’s an adventure for th etourist, because the tourist will end up learning about the customs of the tribe, as well as their good hospitality.”’