Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Wednesday, Jun 07, 2023

Houthis free Yemeni military commander after 8 years in captivity

Houthis free Yemeni military commander after 8 years in captivity

Yemeni army commander Faisal Rajab was released by the Houthis on Sunday after eight years in captivity.
In a ceremony attended by its leader and other senior officials in Sanaa, the Houthis released Maj. Gen. Rajab to a group of Yemeni tribal elders from Abyan, Shabwa and Al-Bayda who had traveled to the city to request his release.

Abdulkader Al-Murtada, head of the Houthis’ prisoner exchange committee, said the commander was pardoned “in honor” of the elders.

Rajab, along with former defense minister Mohammed Mahmoud Al-Subaihy and former intelligence chief Nasser Mansour Hadi, was captured near Al-Anad military base in Lahj province in March 2015. The men had been part of an effort to gather military forces in the area to fend off the Houthis’ expansion across southern provinces.

Al-Subaihy and Hadi were among 900 captives freed two weeks ago during a second prisoner exchange between the warring factions but Rajab was not given his freedom and his family was not allowed to visit him.

Hans Grundberg, the UN’s special envoy for Yemen, hailed Rajab’s release and urged both sides to strive for the release of all detainees in accordance with their pledges under the UN-brokered Stockholm Agreement.

“I welcome the unilateral initiative by Ansar Allah to release GEN Faisal Rajab,” he said on Twitter. “I appeal to all parties to build on the progress achieved & intensify the efforts to release all detainees, based on the “All for all” principle as stipulated in the Stockholm Agreement.”

Majed Fadhail, a member of the Yemeni government involved in the prisoner exchange talks, also welcomed Rajab’s release.

“We are relieved to hear that Maj. Gen. Faisal Rajab has been released. We hope that all prisoners and detainees are released from these criminal rebel militias’ prisons and detention facilities,” he said on Twitter.

But some Yemeni activists and journalists described Rajab’s release as a charade designed to improve the militia’s image, and urged the Houthis to release hundreds of other prisoners and forcibly disappeared people, including politician Mohammed Qahtan.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani said that two of the four journalists freed in the last prisoner exchange were now in hospital.

Tawfiq Al-Mansouri and Harith Hamid were taken to a hospital in the central city of Marib to be treated for health problems they contracted while being detained by the Houthis. They, and hundreds of other detainees, had been subjected to “barbaric psychological and physical torture,” he said.

Al-Mansouri and Hamid were among nine journalists abducted from a hotel in Sanaa in 2015 and sentenced to execution by a Houthi court.

Soon after his release, Al-Mansouri told reporters that Al-Murtada had personally abused him in jail, an accusation the Houthi official disputed.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
Close
0:00
0:00
Corporations standing up for “LGDP-LGT-LBG-LGBTQ2+ kids” during ‘Pride Month’ be like:
A Major Ukrainian Hydroelectric Dam BLOWN UP
US and European Intelligence Agencies Uncover Evidence of Ukrainian Role in Terror Attack on Nord Stream Pipeline
Pakistani Hajj pilgrims arrive in Jeddah on first Makkah Route initiative flight
Photos and videos of Hunter Biden with underage minors have been released.
The driver has been described by authorities as a 21-year-old woman from Tallahassee
Joe Biden falls at the Air Force Graduation
America's Got Talent…
Elon Musk has been showered with praise by the Chinese public during his trip to China
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
Drone Attack on Moscow's Wealthiest Neighborhoods Suspected to be Launched by Ukraine
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
Prominent Hacker Forum RaidForums Suffers Substantial Data Breach
Nvidia CEO Huang says firms, individuals without AI expertise will be left behind
WPP Revolutionizes Advertising with NVIDIA's AI Powerhouse
Olam Group Faces Setback in Saudi Arabia Agribusiness Unit Listing
Kuwait Open to Negotiating Visa Ban with Philippines
Goldman Sachs Cuts Israeli Shekel Forecasts on Politics, Intervention
Iran to Unveil New Hypersonic Missile
Two US Employees Fired For Chasing Robbers Out Of Store As They Broke ''Company Policy''
Pfizer, the EU, and disappearing ink - Smoke, Mirrors, and the Billion-Dose Pfizer Vaccine Deal: EU's 'Open Secret
The Sussexes' Royal Rebound: Could Harry and Meghan Markle Return to the UK?
A provocative study suggests: Left-Wing Extremism and its Unsettling Connection to Psychopathy and Narcissism
France Arrests 10 on Suspicion of Failing to Respond in Time to Migrant Drowning
Neuralink Receives FDA Approval for First-in-Human Clinical Study
Is Saudi Arabia the holiest place in the world? Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions from "The Mount Sinai Stand" Discovered in Saudi Arabia
Ukrainian Intelligence Official Admits to Assassination Attempts on Putin
WATCH THIS: democracy in Russia is so bad!
Saudi Arabia and Canada Restore Diplomatic Relations
Bernard Arnault Loses $11.2 Billion in One Day as Investors Fear Slowdown in US Growth Will Reduce Demand for Luxury Products
Russian’s Wagner Group leader: “I am not a chef, I am a butcher. Russia is in danger of a revolution like in 1917.”
TikTok Sues Montana Over Law Banning the App
Ron DeSantis Jumps Into 2024 Presidential Race, Setting Up Showdown With Trump
Steve Jobs introducing Apple's iPhone, exactly 16 years ago.
Banking Behemoth vs Ex-Boss: The PMorgan-Epstein Entanglement
China overtakes Japan as world's top car exporter
Saudi Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan on the importance of economic integration among Arab nations
Talks between US House Republicans and President Biden's Democratic administration on raising the federal government's $31.4tn debt ceiling have paused
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received a warm welcome at an Arab summit in Jeddah
Biden Administration Eyeing High-Profile Visits to China: The Biden Administration is heating things up by looking into setting up a series of top-level visits to Beijing by top officials in the coming months
New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified
A French court of appeals confirmed former President Nicolas Sarkozy's three-year jail term for corruption and influence peddling
Debt Ceiling Crises Have Unleashed Political Chaos
Weibao Wang, a former software engineer at Apple, was charged with stealing trade secrets related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars
Mobile phone giant Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years as new boss says its performance not good enough
Elon Musk compares George Soros to Magneto, the supervillain from the Marvel Comics series.
Warren Buffett Sells TSMC Shares Over Concerns About Taiwan's Stability
New Study Finds That Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia Is a Major Cause of Death in COVID-19 Patients Who Require Ventilator Assistance
Here are your top headlines for today, May 14, 2023
The official tapes of Trump's deposition in the E. Jean Carroll battery (rape) and defamation case have been released.
×