Yemen Monitor/News Room
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced on Sunday the release of 113 detainees by the Houthis in the capital Sana’a in a move that the Yemeni government described as “a blatant and shameful stage play.”
“The city of Sana’a today witnessed the release of 113 unilaterally detained persons,” the ICRC said in a statement. “The ICRC supported the release operation of the detainees at the request of the National Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs (affiliated with the Houthis)”.
The statement added that “the released detainees are among those whom the ICRC regularly visited and provided assistance to in Sana’a. The purpose of these visits is to ensure that the detainees are treated humanely.”
The ICRC “welcomed the unilateral release operation and praised the previous operations that preceded it, considering it a positive step towards reviving negotiations under the umbrella of the Stockholm Agreement.”
The ICRC expressed its “readiness to play a neutral intermediary role in facilitating the release, transfer and repatriation of detainees, as it did in 2020 and in 2023, whenever the parties to the Stockholm Agreement agree to engage in these efforts again.”
For his part, Yemeni Foreign Minister Shaye’e Zindani commented on the Houthi move, saying: “We welcome the release of any prisoner, but we must look at the matter from its essence, and we in the government are ready to resolve the file of prisoners and abductees, all for all.”
Earlier, the official spokesman for the government delegation and member of the negotiating team, Majed Fadel, said that “kidnapping civilians from their homes, streets, mosques and workplaces are grave crimes against humanity, and releasing these victims under any name does not negate that crime or violation in any way. Rights do not expire by prescription.”
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 allow them to communicate with their families and relatives, headed by the politician Muhammad 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 detained by the Houthis, and they use them to demand negotiations in order to release prisoners of war.
The file of exchanging prisoners and detainees has remained unchanged for years. In recent days, demonstrations have erupted in most of the governorates under the control of the government demanding the Houthis to reveal the fate of the political detainee and leader of the Islah Party, Muhammad Qahtaan.
On 20th 0f March 2023, the Yemeni government agreed with the Houthis to release 887 detainees and abductees from both sides, at the conclusion of consultations held in Switzerland in this regard.
