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Yemen: Houthis offer Egyptian dissidents sanctuary

July 1, 2021 at 2:29 pm

Moataz Matar, 1 July 2021 [moatazmatar/Twitter]

A senior member of Yemen’s Houthi movement has offered to provide sanctuary for Egyptian dissidents who are currently based in Turkey. This is at a time when the latter is looking to improve its ties with Cairo.

Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi is a member of the Supreme Political Council based in Sanaa. He revealed on Twitter that two outspoken Egyptian journalists, Moataz Matar and Mohammed Nasser, “are welcome to Sanaa, with full freedom in our land”.

“You have stood with Yemen and the people’s suffering from the aggression they are living under caused you pain. You are welcome,” he said.

READ: ‘I will not be blackmailed:’ Ghada Najibe responds to Turkey’s request she stop posting on social media

The two journalists are prominent critics of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and are said to have large numbers of subscribers on their YouTube channels. However, following previous reports earlier this year that Turkey was asked by Egypt to get opposition TV channels based in Istanbul to tone down their criticism of the Sisi regime, it was reported last week that the pair had announced an end to their activism on social media platforms at the behest of the Turkish authorities.

Citing informed sources, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that many of the opposition journalists residing in Turkey “cannot be extradited to Cairo under any circumstances because they are holders of Turkish citizenship.”

In related news, the Yemen Press Agency reported last week that an Egyptian journalist said that the Saudi-led coalition has continued to prevent journalists and media professionals from entering Yemen. Walaa Omran, deputy editor-in-chief of the Egyptian newspaper Al Gomhuria, said that the coalition is preventing Egyptian journalists from visiting the war-torn country and claimed that airport security in Cairo prevented her and two other journalists from boarding a plane heading for Aden.

READ: US institute reports former Saudi commander in Yemen sentenced to death