Barran Press
On Sunday, May 26th, the Houthi group, internationally designated as a terrorist organization, released 113 detainees, two days after unilaterally announcing their intention to do so.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed the release, stating, "Today in Sana'a, Yemen, 113 detainees held due to the conflict were released in a unilateral operation," according to Reuters.
The ICRC emphasized that they provided "support to the detainees to ensure their release in a humane and dignified manner," and that they facilitated the process at the request of the National Committee for Prisoners' Affairs.
The released detainees were among those regularly visited and assisted by the ICRC in Sana'a, to ensure their humane treatment.
However, Majed Fadayel, spokesperson for the government negotiating team on prisoners and detainees, dismissed the Houthi's announcement as an "exploitation of the humanitarian file for political and media purposes."
"The Houthis releasing any number, under any name, does not absolve them of the crime of hiding, kidnapping, and torturing," Fadayel said in a statement to "Barran Press." "They will remain criminals and violators of humanity."
Fadayelaccused the group of "kidnapping people from streets, mosques, universities, and roads, and after kidnapping them, they carry out what they call 'initiatives' by the executioner himself," asserting that "releasing the kidnapped does not erase the original crime, which is not subject to the statute of limitations."
He added, "They are exploiting this humanitarian file for political and media purposes. If they have an ounce of humanity, let them allow the political prisoner they have held for over nine years, Mohammed Qahtaan, to call his family, for example."
Last Friday, Abdulqader Al-Murtada, head of the Houthi negotiating team on prisoners and detainees, announced their intention to release 100 prisoners of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
Al-Murtada stated on Twitter, "The release of 100 prisoners of the Yemeni army and government is a unilateral humanitarian initiative." While he did not provide further details, he said they would issue a press release with specifics during the release process.
In response to Al-Murtada's tweet, Yahya Kazman, head of the government negotiating team on prisoners and detainees, accused the Houthis of "shirking their commitments in the file of prisoners and detainees."
Kazman considered the Houthi initiative a "blatant and exposed sham, and a shirking of their commitments in the file of prisoners."
He stated that the group is "shirking their commitments in the file of detainees and prisoners, and moving towards creating blatant and exposed shams," referring to their unilateral initiative to release 100 prisoners.
The head of the government delegation pointed out that the group "kidnaps citizens from their homes, workplaces, universities, and roads, and uses them as a means of political pressure and blackmail," emphasizing that "the first steps in resolving the file begin with revealing the fate of the forcibly disappeared."
Earlier this month, the government delegation in prisoner and detainee negotiations accused the Houthis of "obstructing repeated calls to resume negotiations and hindering any efforts to resolve the prisoner file."
On January 3rd, the Yemeni government delegation in prisoner and detainee negotiations announced the postponement of a round of negotiations scheduled for that week with the Houthi delegation "indefinitely," due to "Houthi intransigence and obstruction," according to the government delegation spokesperson.
On April 17th, 2023, approximately 887 prisoners were released in a prisoner exchange between the internationally recognized Yemeni government and the Houthi group, according to an agreement reached in the last round of negotiations in Switzerland. This marked the second-largest exchange facilitated by the UN and the ICRC since the outbreak of the conflict in Yemen.
On October 16th, 2020, the ICRC implemented an exchange between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, involving 1056 prisoners and detainees, including 15 Saudis and 4 Sudanese from the Arab coalition forces.