Luke Symons, of Cardiff,  , a rebel group fighting the Yemen government in the civil war.

He was seized as a suspected spy, a claim his family have called "ridiculous".

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss thanked "our Omani and Saudi partners for their support in securing his release".

Ms Truss said: "I am pleased Luke Symons, who was unlawfully detained, without charge or trial since 2017 in Yemen, has been released.

"He was allegedly mistreated, in solitary confinement, and refused visits by his family, he has been flown to Muscat [in Oman], and soon he will be reunited with his family in the UK."

He was one of 14 people whose release Oman said it helped to secure. They have been held in Yemen's Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa.

They have now been transferred to Oman's capital, in preparation for being flown back to their own countries.

Mr Symons converted to Islam in his late teens, taking the name Jamal.

Aged 20, he made a pilgrimage to Mecca before travelling to Egypt, and then Yemen, where he taught English and married.

When conflict broke out in 2015, he and his wife Tagreed left the country, but could not return to the UK because she had lost her passport amid the chaos.

They returned to Yemen and had a baby, but continued to explore ways of escaping the bloody civil 

Two years later, as he presented his British passport to withdraw money to fund his family's passage out of Yemen, he was arrested as a suspected spy.