Houthis Free 159 Detainees in Red Cross-Backed Release
The ICRC said the release was a unilateral move by authorities in Sanaa, carried out with its support. Its delegates interviewed the detainees before they were freed, notified their families and helped arrange their journeys home.
ICRC medical teams also checked each person’s health and fitness for road travel, and organized extra transport assistance for those who needed it.
The Houthi-affiliated National Committee for Prisoners Affairs initiated the release, which falls outside the Stockholm Agreement, the ICRC said. The organization stressed it had no role in deciding who would be freed or how many. UN-sponsored talks in Sweden produced that accord in December 2018, between Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the Houthis.
On Friday, the Houthis described the detainees as prisoners who “voluntarily surrendered without fighting during the recent events.” The group said the releases were made under an amnesty issued by Mahdi al-Mashat, head of its Supreme Political Council, and that local authorities would coordinate the detainees’ return to their families and home areas.
The releases come amid renewed fighting between the Houthis and forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition. The Houthis have held the capital, Sanaa, and large areas of northern and western Yemen since 2014. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 in support of the government.
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