The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Yemen has announced on Thursday evening that 700 prisoners of war have been released in a prisoner exchange deal between the National Salvation Government of the Republic of Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
“We have succeeded so far, in cooperation with the Yemeni Red Crescent and the Saudi Red Crescent, in facilitating the transfer and release of more than 700 former detainees between Saudi Arabia and Sana’a,” the committee said in a post on its official account on Twitter.
At the reception, Head of the National Committee for Prisoners Affairs, Abdul Qadir Al-Mortadha, explained that 250 soldiers of the Yemeni army and Popular Committees had been freed from Saudi prisons, and 220 others from prisons in Ma’rib province.
Al-Mortadha pointed out that 200 other prisoners of the Armed Forces and the Popular Committees would arrive on Friday after being released from Saudi and mercenary prisons in Aden province, bringing the total number of released to 670.
الحمدلله أولاً وأخيراً
470 أسيراً وصلوا بالسلامة. و
200 أسيراً سيصلون غداً ان شاءالله..
نشكر كل من ساهم وشارك في إنجاح هذا الحدث العظيم.
ونسأل الله الفرج لبقية الأسرى.— عبدالقادر المرتضى (@abdulqadermortd) October 15, 2020
“The deal was supposed to liberate 680 imprisoned members of the army and the Popular Committees, but the coalition excluded ten prisoners in the prisons of Ma’rib province [from being freed], which prompted us to exclude ten prisoners of the aggression coalition held in Sana’a,” Al-Mortadha said.
Al-Mortadha assured the families of the prisoners who are still being held in the aggression coalition’s prisons, that there will be other deals during which all prisoners will be freed.
“We do what we can to pressure the aggression coalition into freeing all prisoners and detainees in its prisons.”
For his part, Information Minister Dhaifallah Al-Shami said, “Today, we read victory on the faces of the Yemeni people, as they receive the [liberated] prisoners at Sana’a International Airport.”
Al-Shami affirmed that the revolutionary and political leaderships pay great attention to the prisoners and the wounded.
“Our leadership cannot give away any of our prisoners, and all prisoners will be released in future deals,” he said.
