Saudi authorities expel senior Hadi government officials from luxury hotels in Riyadh

Saudi authorities expel senior Hadi government officials from luxury hotels in Riyadh

Summary:

Saudi authorities have expelled a group of leaders and prominent figures in the Hadi puppet government from a hotel in Riyadh, after the expiration of the month deadline granted to them.

Saudi authorities removed the last group of Hadi government …

Saudi authorities have expelled a group of leaders and prominent figures in the Hadi puppet government from a hotel in Riyadh, after the expiration of the month deadline granted to them.

Saudi authorities removed the last group of Hadi government officials residing at the Thwary Hotel in the north of Riyadh, and stopped renewing the visas of several government officials, Al-Mahriya TV reported.

Media outlets reported in mid-August that the Saudi Special Committee, an intelligence agency that manages the Yemeni file, has expelled political, media and military leaders from hotel apartments in Riyadh.

The representative of the Saudi Special Committee, Turki al-Hallis, gave a month’s notice to several other leaders who remained in the hotel, in order to arrange themselves and get housing at their own expense.

This comes amid rising anger among Saudi authorities over the continued stay of Hadi puppet government officials in Riyadh and other Arab cities. Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed al-Jaber has reportedly put pressure on the exiled government authorities to hold parliamentary sessions and to give a boost to the faltering confidence of the exiled government.

According to media, the recent move is a deliberate insult to the Hadi government and to Abdrabbuh Hadi himself, pointing out what was reported last year. Many governors and deputy minister were already expelled in late May 2020, mostly from the hotels Thawary and Yamama, and were transferred to a residential building in al-Kharj, south of Riyadh.

Whether the move is merely practical out of financial motives or a sign of a wider change in Saudi policy away from trying to reinstate Hadi as president of Yemen, remains to be seen.