Yemeni Government Suspends Prisoner Negotiations with Houthis Until Mohammad Qahtaan’s Family is Allowed to Visit Him
YEMEN MONITOR/Newsroom
The Yemeni government announced on Sunday evening that it would suspend negotiations with the Houthi group on prisoner exchange until the family of prominent Yemeni politician Mohammad Qahtaan is allowed to visit him in his prison in Sana’a.
Hadi al-Hayj, head of the government delegation for negotiating prisoners, hostages, and forcibly disappeared persons, said that “the Houthis are refusing to agree to the government delegation’s condition to visit the kidnapped politician Mohammad Qahtaan as a condition for resuming negotiations.”
Hayj added in a speech at a human rights symposium in Marib, that the government delegation has stopped meetings with the Houthi group until the group commits to the delegation’s condition and allows Qahtaan’s family to visit him.
In a statement to Al-Islah Net website affiliated with the Al-Islah Yemeni Party, Hayj said, “Our condition is clear, which is to allow Qahtaan’s family to visit him, to resume any negotiations.”
He added that the government delegation’s decision was the result of a presidential directive “that Mohammad Qahtaan be the first to be negotiated for,” especially after the release of Qahtaan’s companions who were covered by UN Resolution 2216, “and until now the Houthis still clings to Qahtaan for flimsy reasons.”
Hayj mentioned that during the past period, the UN envoy Hans Grundberg visited Riyadh, as well as leaders of the Arab coalition, and met with the Red Cross, and spoke with them extensively about Qahtaan’s case.
Regarding the upcoming meeting in Muscat, Hayj said, “The United Nations has another vision and is looking for any success, even at the expense of other issues,” .
Sheikh Hadi al-Hayj added that Qahtaan has been forcibly disappeared for ten years, and his wife has not seen him since then, stressing that the delegation is adamant about its condition to resume any negotiations with the Houthis and is ready to meet anywhere they want.
On April 4, 2015, Mohammad Qahtaan disappeared, leaving behind an unknown fate until today. All the parties that rebelled against legitimacy have disclaimed responsibility for his disappearance, and even raised a storm of contradictions in the hope of being able to bury the traces of his disappearance.
In June 2023, a new round of consultations was launched on the file of exchanging detainees and prisoners, between the internationally recognized Yemeni government and the Houthi group in the Jordanian capital, Amman, under the auspices of the United Nations.
On June 4 of the same month, the head of the Presidential Leadership Council held the United Nations responsible for implementing UN Security Council resolutions on Yemen, at the top of which is revealing the fate of Mohammad Qahtaan.
Last year, 2023, the Houthi group released three of the four leaders that the Security Council called for their release by a UN resolution; as part of a prisoner and detainee exchange deal between the two sides. However, the Houthis refuse to reveal the fate of Mohammad Qahtaan or release him.
