Ansarullah, Saudi-backed presidential council complete Yemen prisoner swap

Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement and the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) have freed scores of prisoners on the last of a three-day exchange of nearly 900 detainees, raising prospects for nationwide peace in a country embroiled in a devastating Saudi-led war.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is managing the prisoner exchange, said on Sunday that planes carrying released detainees took off at the same time from the capital city of Sana’a and the energy-rich northern city of Ma’rib.

“The first flight from Ma’rib and the first flight from Sana’a have left,” ICRC media adviser Jessica Moussan told AFP news agency.

She added, “Forty-eight former detainees were on board the Ma’rib-Sana’a flight, while 42 others were on the Sana’a-Ma’rib flight.”

Three other flights during the day were to complete the deal, the senior official from the Geneva-based humanitarian organization noted.

Four journalists sentenced to death by the Ansarullah movement are part of the exchange, PLC negotiator Majed Fadail said.

Mahdi al-Mashat, head of Yemen's Supreme Political Council, said the next round of talks with Saudi Arabia would start after the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which is expected on April 21 and marks the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Yemen's official Saba news agency reported.

The last talks ended hours before 318 prisoners were transported on four flights on Friday between the southern Yemeni port city of Aden and Sana’a, reuniting detainees with their families.

On Saturday, 357 detainees took flights between the Saudi city of Abha and Sana’a. Saudis were among the prisoners freed. It is not known how many prisoners each side still has.

MG