Red Cross says Houthis unilaterally released 113 detainees in Sana’a, Yemen News
Yarinya, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Red Cross says Houthis unilaterally released 113 detainees in Sana’a, Yemen

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced Sunday that the Houthi rebel group in Yemen has unilaterally released 113 detainees in Sana’a, the capital city that came under Houthi control in September 2014. The ICRC facilitated the release at the request of the Houthi National Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs.

ICRC’s head of delegation in Yemen Daphnee Maret said that this release would pave the way for further prisoner transfers, bringing solace to families anxiously awaiting reunification with their loved ones. She reaffirmed the ICRC’s readiness to extend humanitarian aid to individuals detained due to the Yemen conflict, as well as their families, and to facilitate releases when permitted by the authorities. Maret also reiterated the ICRC’s willingness to serve as an impartial intermediary for the simultaneous release and transfer of detainees should the warring parties reach such an accord. Nonetheless, Yemen’s deputy human rights minister Majed Fadail asserted that freeing these victims under a pretext fails to absolve the Houthis of culpability.

The seeds of the conflict were sown in late 2014 when the Houthi rebels seized control of Sana’a and several other provinces, leading to an escalation in March 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition intervened to bolster Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Iran-backed Houthi insurgency. According to Human Rights Watch, all parties engaged in Yemen’s conflict, including the Houthi rebels, the internationally recognized government, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and various UAE and Saudi-backed Yemeni armed factions, have carried out arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture, and mistreatment of detainees nationwide. Previously on May 25, 2023, Houthi militants raided a residence in Sana’a where Yemeni Bahais gathered. The militants detained 17 individuals solely due to their religious affiliations, with 11 still unaccounted for.

While the internationally recognized Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels previously conducted a prisoner swap involving 887 detainees in April 2023, scores of others, including human rights advocates and activists, remain arbitrarily incarcerated and forcibly disappeared by the various warring factions. According to Amnesty International, despite a relative reduction in armed hostilities and cross-border attacks compared to prior years, all belligerents in Yemen’s protracted conflict continue to perpetrate unlawful assaults and killings with impunity. Both the internationally recognized government and the Houthi authorities governing separate territories persistently harass, intimidate, arbitrarily imprison, forcibly disappear and prosecute journalists and activists for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression. The Houthi regime has additionally subjected members of the Bahai religious minority to enforced disappearances solely for practicing their faith.

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