Hassan Al-Qubaisi, a member of the Yemeni government's negotiating team on the prisoner file, stated that the internationally recognized Yemeni government and its negotiating team are keen to achieve an "all-for-all" exchange deal, including the release of politician Mohammed Qahtan. He accused the Houthi Prisoner Committee and its head of manipulating this humanitarian file.

In an exclusive statement to Barran Press, Al-Qubaisi said Abdulqader Al-Murtada and his committee's actions are "clear to everyone," as they "manipulate this file and remove it from its humanitarian context." He emphasized that "Al-Murtada is keen to keep this file in his hands to continue extorting the Yemeni people."

Regarding the government's commitment to the "all-for-all" idea, Al-Qubaisi noted that this principle would "completely close the file of detainees and prisoners."

He mentioned that the Houthis are evading this matter, saying, "They want to exploit this file to continue extorting the Yemeni people in general."

Concerning politician Mohammed Qahtan, Al-Qubaisi confirmed that "the Houthis are completely withholding his case, and their negotiating team refuses to engage positively about him."

"Every time a deal is proposed, Mohammed Qahtan is excluded, and the Houthi delegation wants to negotiate without Qahtan. We have rejected this idea, that Qahtan or anyone else should be excluded from the negotiations," he said, adding that "it is very strange for someone to ask you to negotiate while excluding certain individuals."

He explained that their position as a government side is "understood and recognized by the UN envoy's office and local mediators." He said, "We engage positively with all proposals, whether from the envoy's office or local mediators."

Al-Qubaisi revealed that the last meeting with local mediators was last week, indicating that the government delegation showed all flexibility. "We presented all options, with the important result being an all-for-all exchange, including Mohammed Qahtan," he said.

"I believe this proposal is not stubborn and is fundamentally fair to everyone. We did not exclude any Houthis," he added, noting the continuous positive engagement with all ideas, whether through the envoy's office or local mediators.

"We have engaged positively and had more than six meetings with the envoy's office this month via Zoom, also with local mediators. We have an idea that the international community is convinced of, which is all-for-all, including Qahtan," he said.

"The situation is clear to us, and the Houthis are the ones evading, and the mediators understand that. The obstacles always put by Abdulqader Al-Murtada and his committee are known to be illogical and unrealistic, and we cannot accept or continue to implement his demands and desires to keep this file for extortion, whether in areas they control or in legitimate areas," Al-Qubaisi added.

Last Tuesday, the head of the Houthi Prisoner Committee, Abdulqader Al-Murtada, accused the Yemeni Islah Party of rejecting proposals his committee allegedly submitted recently.

In a post on his "X" account, Al-Murtada said, "After the last round in Muscat, the UN presented several practical proposals to implement the Muscat Agreement, which includes Mohammed Qahtan, and we agreed to them, but the Islah Party in Marib rejected all these proposals."

"Last week, we sent several local mediators to Marib to find a solution to the file from any side. These mediators presented several proposals that we agreed to, but they were also rejected by the same party, even though they all included Mohammed Qahtan," he added.

On June 18, the office of the UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, announced the conclusion of consultations on releasing a new batch of prisoners after the success of the second exchange deal of 869 prisoners and detainees in late April, under UN auspices.

On April 17, 2023, about 887 prisoners were released in an exchange deal between the internationally recognized Yemeni government and the Houthi group, classified as a terrorist organization, according to an agreement reached in the last round of negotiations in Switzerland.

The Switzerland Agreement is the second-largest deal overseen by the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross since the conflict in Yemen began. On October 16, 2020, the committee implemented a deal between the two sides, including 1,056 prisoners and detainees, among them 15 Saudis and four Sudanese from the Arab Coalition forces.