Lakota Grad Had Been Detained by Resistance Forces in Yemen
By Breaking News Staff
A Lakota graduate who had been detained in war-torn Yemen since last month has died, according to the U.S. State Department, which was short on details Tuesday.
“We can confirm that U.S. citizen John Hamen died in Yemen,” according to Pooja Jhunjhunwala, a State Department spokesperson. “We express our deepest condolences to his family and friends. State Department officials provided all possible consular assistance to the family. Out of respect for the privacy of Mr. Hamen’s family, we do not have any additional details to provide.”
During a Tuesday afternoon press conference, Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said Hamet was detained by Houthi forces upon his arrival in Yemen but said there was no determination of Hamen’s cause of death. He also could not confirm if another individual was detained.
Toner said the United States worked with a third country to get Hamen’s body out of the country but said he could not elaborate, citing privacy concerns.
The Journal-News requested details from the State Department on Hamen’s detention and death, but received little information in reply.
“John Hamen was a contractor for the company that maintained the building that the United Nations is currently working in,” said William Cocks of the Bureau of Consular Affairs Press Office, saying his office had no further information to provide regarding United Nations operations or staffing in Yemen.
Hamen, who lived just outside Norfolk, Va., was working as a contractor in Yemen and was detained Oct. 20, according to a Nov. 7 post to his Facebook account by his wife, Jennifer.
“Yesterday around 5:30 p.m. a few people from different agencies came to our home to notify us that John had died while in detainment and then was taken to a hospital,” according to the post. “Our family is heartbroken right now. I have lost the love of my life, my best friend, and my seven kids have lost the best dad ever.”
Hamen’s body is scheduled to arrive in Dover Air Force Base in Delaware in coming days, his wife’s post reads.
The John Hamen Memorial Fund, created on GoFundMe to assist Hamen’s family, raised $14,565 of its $25,000 goal in two days as of Tuesday afternoon.
The Associated Press previously reported that United Nations officials said two American contractors had been detained at the airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, which is controlled by Shiite Houthi rebels.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told the AP at that time said the contractors arrived on a U.N. aircraft from Djibouti on Oct. 20 and were detained by “the authorities at the airport in Sanaa.”
He said the two “are not U.N. contractors” but work for the company that manages the facilities that the U.N. is using in Sanaa.
The U.N. offices are at the U.S. embassy, the officials said.
Hamen graduated Lakota High School in 1990, district officials confirmed Tuesday.
His most recent position with the Army was as a Joint Training Team Communications Observer at the U.S. Special Operations Command Air Force Base in Suffolk, Va., from May 2010 to February 2012, according to his profile on LinkedIn, which listed his most recent career as “diplomatic support” for “Defense & Space.”
Previously, he served as combat advisor and military transition team sergeant in Kirkuk, Iraq, from February 2009 to May 2010. From February 2006 until January 2009, he served as first sergeant in the Joint Communications Support Element at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla.
- See more at: http://www.whio.com/news/news/local/lakota-grad-dies-detained-in-yemen-dies/npKNr/#sthash.P85bmDuP.dpuf
A Lakota graduate who had been detained in war-torn Yemen since last month has died, according to the U.S. State Department, which was short on details Tuesday.
“We can confirm that U.S. citizen John Hamen died in Yemen,” according to Pooja Jhunjhunwala, a State Department spokesperson. “We express our deepest condolences to his family and friends. State Department officials provided all possible consular assistance to the family. Out of respect for the privacy of Mr. Hamen’s family, we do not have any additional details to provide.”
During a Tuesday afternoon press conference, Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said Hamet was detained by Houthi forces upon his arrival in Yemen but said there was no determination of Hamen’s cause of death. He also could not confirm if another individual was detained.
Toner said the United States worked with a third country to get Hamen’s body out of the country but said he could not elaborate, citing privacy concerns.
The Journal-News requested details from the State Department on Hamen’s detention and death, but received little information in reply.
“John Hamen was a contractor for the company that maintained the building that the United Nations is currently working in,” said William Cocks of the Bureau of Consular Affairs Press Office, saying his office had no further information to provide regarding United Nations operations or staffing in Yemen.
Hamen, who lived just outside Norfolk, Va., was working as a contractor in Yemen and was detained Oct. 20, according to a Nov. 7 post to his Facebook account by his wife, Jennifer.
“Yesterday around 5:30 p.m. a few people from different agencies came to our home to notify us that John had died while in detainment and then was taken to a hospital,” according to the post. “Our family is heartbroken right now. I have lost the love of my life, my best friend, and my seven kids have lost the best dad ever.”
Hamen’s body is scheduled to arrive in Dover Air Force Base in Delaware in coming days, his wife’s post reads.
The John Hamen Memorial Fund, created on GoFundMe to assist Hamen’s family, raised $14,565 of its $25,000 goal in two days as of Tuesday afternoon.
The Associated Press previously reported that United Nations officials said two American contractors had been detained at the airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, which is controlled by Shiite Houthi rebels.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told the AP at that time said the contractors arrived on a U.N. aircraft from Djibouti on Oct. 20 and were detained by “the authorities at the airport in Sanaa.”
He said the two “are not U.N. contractors” but work for the company that manages the facilities that the U.N. is using in Sanaa.
The U.N. offices are at the U.S. embassy, the officials said.
Hamen graduated Lakota High School in 1990, district officials confirmed Tuesday.
His most recent position with the Army was as a Joint Training Team Communications Observer at the U.S. Special Operations Command Air Force Base in Suffolk, Va., from May 2010 to February 2012, according to his profile on LinkedIn, which listed his most recent career as “diplomatic support” for “Defense & Space.”
Previously, he served as combat advisor and military transition team sergeant in Kirkuk, Iraq, from February 2009 to May 2010. From February 2006 until January 2009, he served as first sergeant in the Joint Communications Support Element at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla.
- See more at: http://www.whio.com/news/news/local/lakota-grad-dies-detained-in-yemen-dies/npKNr/#sthash.P85bmDuP.dpuf
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