Houthis ready to swap Hamas prisoners in Saudi with Saudi officers in Yemen

Yemen’s Houthis announced yesterday that they are ready to swap Hamas prisoners being held in Saudi jails with Saudi officers in Yemen, Anadolu reported.

This came during a speech delivered by the head of Houthi group, Abdel-Malik Al-Houthi, to commemorate the start of the Islamic New Year.

Reported by Saba news agency, Al-Houthi described the Saudi sentences against Palestinians who he said had been “kidnapped” and imprisoned in the kingdom’s jails as “oppressive”.

He stressed that the problem Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have with Hamas is that the latter is involved in fighting the Israeli occupation.

READ: Yemen’s Houthis say Saudi pilots will only be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners

“We renew our offer to the Saudi authorities that we are ready to release Saudi officers in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners,” he said.

Al-Houthi did not say how many Saudi officers his movement holds.

On Sunday, a Saudi court held a hearing for 69 Palestinians and Jordanians, sentencing 24 of them to various prison terms ranging from between five to 22 years and acquitting others.

Official Hamas envoy to Riyadh, Mohammad Al-Khodari, 81, was sentenced to 15 years despite suffering from cancer and requiring urgent medical care.