U.S. Killed Hostage Remembered as Devoted to Yemen’s Story By EMMA G. FITZSIMMONSDEC. 6, 2014 A girl, her face bare in a sea of veiled women protesting against the government, looks at the camera and flashes a peace sign with her fingers. Jubilant crowds celebrate the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a Yemeni woman for her pro-democracy work. A small boy from the Houthi minority walks alongside his father, an AK-47 rifle slung over a tiny shoulder. The images, published online by Al Jazeera on Saturday, capture moments of turmoil in Yemen as the Arab Spring swept the region, but also the people who were of particular interest to a young American photojournalist, Luke Somers. Mr. Somers, 33, was killed on Saturday by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula after American commandos tried to free him from captivity in a small village in southern Yemen. He had been missing since September 2013, when he was taken from a street in Sana, the Yemeni capital. Born in England and raised in the United States, Mr. Somers went to Yemen to teach English, but ended up covering a wave of protests against the government in 2011. He photographed major events in Yemen for the likes of Al Jazeera, the BBC and The New York Times, but he also wanted to capture the concerns of regular people, friends said. “He was so dedicated to the story of the Yemeni people,” said Alex Potter, an American friend who lived in his building in Sana. “I remember sitting with him, and he would go through each photo asking, ‘Is this one going to be the one that elevates the voice of real Yemenis?” While some freelance journalists moved on from Yemen as the drama of the uprising gave way to a more grinding political standoff, Mr. Somers stayed behind, working on the English-language website of the National Dialogue Conference, which was created as part of political settlement after the uprising. Fakhri Alarashi, the editor of The National Yemen, one of the several English-language publications that Mr. Somers worked for, called him “quiet, humble and patient.” The newspaper planned to dedicate a coming issue to Mr. Somers, Mr. Alarashi said. His mother, Paula Somers, and his brother, Jordan, who live in the Seattle area, released a video before his death asking for the kidnappers to show mercy and to allow Luke to come home. “He is a good person, and he’s only been trying to do good things for the Yemeni population,” his brother said in the video. “He goes out of his way to care for and respect the common person, and he has made many lasting friends in Yemen.” His family did not respond to requests for an interview on Saturday. His sister, Lucy Somers, told The Associated Press that she had learned of his death from F.B.I. agents. Before moving overseas, Mr. Somers attended Beloit College in Wisconsin. He graduated in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing, according to a spokesman for the college. One of his English professors, Shawn Gillen, said Mr. Somers had been interested in writing and photography, and he studied abroad in Morocco and Egypt. “He was extremely intelligent, perceptive, a very gentle and friendly guy,” Mr. Gillen said. In his English classes, Mr. Somers wrote personal essays and a travel piece, and he went on to study poetry in his final year at the college. “Luke had sort of an intense curiosity and a desire to grapple with the big questions,” Mr. Gillen said. “I suspect that is one of the things that drew him to journalism and to Yemen.” Over the years, Mr. Somers had worked on a fishing boat in Alaska and traveled to Trenchtown, Jamaica, his college friend Andrew Bartles said. He never had much money, Mr. Bartles added, but he always found a way to survive. “He had nine lives,” he said, “and made his way in places most people would be too afraid to step outside their boundaries to explore.” Shuaib Almosawa contributed reporting from Sana, Yemen.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 23:21:53 +0000
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