Houthis postpone the release of 100 prisoners, the Yemeni government describes it as a “blatant and exposed play”

Yemen Monitor/Newsroom

The Houthi armed group announced on Saturday the postponement of the release of 100 prisoners from the government side until Sunday, after it was scheduled to be released today, in a move that the Yemeni government described as a “blatant and exposed play.”

This came in a brief statement issued by the official in charge of the prisoners’ file in the Houthi group, Abdul Qader al-Murtada, published on “X.”

Al-Murtada said: “Important note.. Due to some technical procedures, the date of implementing the initiative has been postponed to tomorrow morning, Sunday,” without providing details.

On Friday, al-Murtada announced that “upon the directives of Abdul Malik Badreddin al-Houthi (leader of the group), we will, on Saturday, implement a unilateral humanitarian initiative, in which we will release more than 100 prisoners from the prisoners of the other party,” referring to the legitimate government supported by the Saudi-led Arab coalition.

In response, the Yemeni government said in a post by the head of its delegation negotiating on prisoners and abductees Yahya Kuzman, that “the Houthi militia is evading its commitments regarding prisoners.”

He added through “X” platform that the Houthis “are heading towards creating blatant and exposed plays by kidnapping citizens from their homes and workplaces, universities and roads.”

For his part, the official spokesman for the government delegation and member of the negotiating team Majed Fadil said that “kidnapping civilians from their homes, roads, mosques and workplaces are serious crimes against humanity, and releasing these victims under any name does not negate that crime or violation in any way, as rights do not lapse with time.”

He added in a post on “X” “These militias continue their practice of exploiting this humanitarian file for political and media purposes, refusing to reveal the fate of the disappeared and allowing them to communicate with their families and relatives, headed by the politician Mohamed Qahtaan.”

The Houthi group announced at the end of April/Nisan a new round of negotiations to release detainees and prisoners.

In addition to prisoners of the internationally recognized government, there are thousands of political detainees in Houthi prisons.

According to UN reports, there are more than 15,000 detainees and prisoners with the parties of the war in Yemen, most of them are detainees with the Houthis, and they are used to demand negotiations in order to release a war prisoners.

The file of exchanging prisoners and detainees has remained unchanged for years. In recent days, demonstrations have erupted in most of the provinces under government control demanding the Houthis to reveal the fate of political detainee and Islah party leader Mohamed Qahtaan.

On March 20, 2023, the Yemeni government agreed with the Houthis to release 887 prisoners and abductees from both sides, at the conclusion of consultations held in Switzerland in this regard.

On April 16, 2023, the legitimate government announced the completion of a batch of the prisoner exchange process with the Houthis, which included about 900 prisoners from both sides.