OMM Newsroom
Yemen’s Houthi group unilaterally released 600 detainees in Sanaa, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Sunday, according to Anadolu Agency.
The ICRC said its delegates conducted private interviews with the detainees before their release and provided assistance to support their return home with dignity.
“The release was initiated by the National Committee for Prisoners Affairs and does not fall under the Stockholm Agreement,” the organization said.
The ICRC said it had no role in deciding who would be released or how many people would be freed.
“The ICRC remains ready, at the request of the parties, to act as a neutral intermediary in facilitating or supporting future releases, transfers and repatriations of people detained in connection with the conflict in Yemen, as it has done in previous years,” it said.
Abdul Qader al-Murtada, head of the Houthi National Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs, confirmed the release of 600 detainees. He said the latest release brought the number unilaterally freed by the group since the start of the Yemeni war to 2,612.
The Yemeni government had not immediately commented on the announcement.
After talks in Stockholm, the Yemeni government and the Houthis reached an agreement in December 2018 to exchange prisoners and detainees. At the time, the number held by both sides exceeded 15,000.
Last month, the ICRC announced that the Houthis had released 159 detainees.
Yemen has been in civil war since the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and several other provinces in September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
