Saudi Arabia frees 13 Houthi prisoners as Omani officials visit Sanaa

Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has released 13 Houthi prisoners, in exchange for a Saudi prisoner who was released earlier.

The release on Saturday came as Omani officials arrived in the Yemeni capital Sanaa as part of international efforts to end the years-long conflict in Yemen.

The head of the National Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs, Abd al-Qadir al-Murtada took to Twitter on Saturday, wrote, “Today, we received 13 Houthi prisoners and detainees who were released by the Saudi authorities in Sana’a International Airport in exchange for a Saudi prisoner whom we released earlier.”

He adds, “We hope that this step will be a prelude to the implementation of the deal agreed upon at the end of this week.”

Al-Murtada said, “The prisoners released today from Saudi prisons are part of the deal agreed upon by the United Nations.”

Al-Murtada indicated that the rest of the steps related to the full implementation of the deal will be completed next Thursday.

On March 20, 2023, the Yemeni government announced an agreement with the Houthi group to release 887 prisoners and abductees from both sides, including Saudis and Sudanese, at the conclusion of consultations held in Switzerland regarding the exchange of prisoners between the two parties.

In March 2022, the Yemeni government signed an agreement with the Houthis under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) to exchange more than 2,200 prisoners from both sides, but the process of their release stalled amid mutual accusations of obstructing it.

During consultations in Sweden in 2018, the two parties submitted lists of more than 15,000 prisoners, detainees and abductees, but no accurate official count of numbers is available after this date.

Yemen is suffering from a war that began after the Houthis took control of the capital, Sanaa, and several provinces at the end of 2014, and the conflict escalated since March 2015, after an Arab military coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened to support the legitimate government forces, in the face of the Iranian-backed Houthi group.