Houthis ready to exchange all prisoners with Yemen government, official says

The Houthis are ready to exchange all prisoners with the Yemeni government, the group’s Al-Masirah TV reported the head of the Prisoner Affairs Committee saying yesterday.

According to the channel, Abdul Qader Al-Murtada made the remarks during his meeting with the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, in Sanaa.

“During our meeting with the ICRC President, we confirmed our full readiness to swap all prisoners,” Al-Murtada said, adding that he had also explained in details to Maurer “the violations committed by the forces of aggression against the [Houthi] prisoners,” in reference to the Saudi-led Arab coalition and the Yemeni government forces.

“I have asked him to make a serious move to visit all prisons, see the conditions of the prisoners, and reveal the fate of the disappeared,” he added.

READ: Yemen government agrees prisoner swap with Houthis

There has been no comment from the Yemeni government, but it has previously expressed readiness to swap prisoners with the Houthis.

The ICRC chief arrived in Yemen last Wednesday on a six-day visit to assess the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country.

In October 2020, the Yemeni government and the Houthis exchanged 1,056 prisoners, including 15 Saudis and four Sudanese nationals, under the auspices of the United Nations and the ICRC.

In consultations held in Sweden in 2018, the two parties presented details of more than 15,000 prisoners, detainees, and abductees. However, for the time being, there is no accurate census on the number of prisoners of both parties.