Houthi rebels free 2 Yemeni journalists

Houthi rebels on Sunday released two Yemeni journalists after nearly two years of detention, according to a Yemen NGO.

“The two journalists were set free two years after being abducted in Dhamar, some 100 km south of Sanaa,” Hussein al-Sufi, head of the National Organisation of Yemeni Media (SADA), told Anadolu Agency by phone.

He said the two had never been charged since their detention.

According to al-Sufi, there are 13 other journalists still languishing in Houthi-run prisons in Yemen.

He went on to call on human rights groups and the Yemeni government to pile pressures on Houthis to free journalists held by the Shia group.

Read: 41 journalists held captive by Houthis in Yemen

Since 2014, scores of journalists have been detained by Houthi rebels on charges of “communicating with foreign countries and supporting a Saudi-led coalition” fighting the group.

Yemen has remained in a state of civil war since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran Sanaa and much of the country.

The conflict escalated a year later when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a major air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi gains and shoring up Yemen’s pro-Saudi government.