The official in the Houthi prisoners’ file, Amin Mortada, announced a new round of negotiations with the Yemeni government on another prisoner exchange deal, after the success of the last deal last October.
According to what was stated on his personal “Twitter” account, the United States of America has been informed of the new consultations that the Houthis wish to engage in with the Yemeni government regarding the prisoner exchange deal, after the largest exchange deal between the two parties was successful about 10 days ago.
Murtada confirmed the Houthis’ full readiness to enter into discussions and negotiations on a new prisoner exchange deal process that includes more numbers than the previous status.
He pointed out that the success of the recent Geneva negotiations was the reason for the completion of the larger deal, and thus it is an indication of more deals. Accordingly, we hope that there will be no delay on the part of the United Nations.
It is worth noting that 1061 prisoners were released in the recent prisoner exchange deal that took place in mid-October between the Houthis and the Yemeni government as part of the Sweden Agreement in 2018, under the auspices of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
This deal is considered the largest since the outbreak of the war, that is, six years ago between the Houthis and the Yemeni government, as the two sides reached a partial agreement in Yemen, after a round of negotiations and discussions in Geneva that ended with the release of a large number of prisoners, including Saudis and Sudanese.
In a related context, the number of Houthi prisoners who were consulted about their release within the terms of the agreement, reached 600 Houthi prisoners, compared to 400 of the kidnapped and detained in the group’s Zananin.
For its part, the International Committee of the Red Cross announced that it would take charge of matters related to the transfer of prisoners between the two parties, as the committee stated that the task of transferring prisoners rests with it, as the prisoners will be transported by air between Sana’a, which is under the control of the Houthis, and Seiyun, which is under the government.
It is noteworthy that the Iranian-backed Houthi forces have controlled a large number of Yemeni cities since the outbreak of the war in mid-2014, including the capital, Sana’a, while the Yemeni government is waging a war against them in an attempt to retake those cities under their control.
