Abducted Dutch said handed over to Yemen mediators

* Kidnapper says couple handed over to mediators

* Netherlands embassy says no confirmation of release

(Adds comments Dutch foreign ministry on ransom demand)

By Mohamed Sudam

SANAA, April 13 (Reuters) - A Dutch couple seized by Yemeni tribesmen two weeks ago were handed over to mediators on Monday, one of the kidnappers was quoted as saying after a Yemeni official said the pair had been released.

Ali Nasser Siraj, identified in local media reports as a leader of the kidnappers, told an opposition website (www.alsahwa-yemen.net) the couple were handed over to mediators and would leave for the capital Sanaa early on Tuesday.

Siraj told the website that authorities had accepted his demands, but gave no details. The website quoted unnamed local sources as saying mediators had paid 10 million rials ($50,300) to the abductors as compensation and promised another 55 million in a few weeks.

The couple were kidnapped at gunpoint on March 31 by tribesmen demanding government compensation over a shooting.

A Yemeni security official earlier said the two were on their way to Sanaa, without elaborating. State news agency Saba also quoted a local official as saying the couple were freed.

However, an official at the Dutch embassy told Reuters: "We have been told about the release by officials. We have no comment at this time, but of course we hope it's true."

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry said the Dutch government did not pay ransoms: "In this particular case, local authorities negotiated with the kidnappers and we have no details of the talks and deals. We were kept out of the loop."



"WE DON'T BELIEVE IT"

The Dutch man, Jan Hoogendoorn, was working at a water project in the water-starved southern city of Taiz. He was driving there with his wife, Heleen Janszen, from Sanaa when they were seized.

Dutch NOS radio station contacted the couple, who said they had not been informed of any release.

"We don't know anything yet," Janszen told the broadcaster by phone. "There are some rumours, but we have been hearing them for the past 14 days, so you can imagine we are slightly losing confidence."

Her husband added: "I will only believe that we really are free when we have reached the (Dutch) embassy in Sanaa."

The attack threatened to further damage Yemen's tourism and add to the security concerns of international companies developing its energy sector.

Tribesmen often kidnap Western tourists in Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, to pressure the government to provide better services and improve living conditions.

Most foreigners abducted in Yemen are released unharmed but in 2000 a Norwegian was killed in crossfire. In 1998, four Westerners, in a group of 16 tourists, were killed during a botched attempt to free them from Islamist militants.

The government of the Arabian Peninsula country has also been battling Islamist militants for years.

Last month, a suicide bomber killed four South Korean tourists in Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden. (Additional reporting by Harro ten Wolde in Amsterdam; Writing by Lin Noueihed and Firouz Sedarat; Editing by Jon Boyle)