The largest prisoner swap deal has been completed

Sana’a | As of early morning yesterday, all the data indicated that the implementation of the prisoner swap agreement signed in Montreux, Switzerland, late last month, and which includes more than 1,000 prisoners, was stalled. This is because the government of outgoing President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who represents one of the parties to the agreement along with Saudi Arabia and the so-called “Southern Resistance”, deliberately changed the agreed lists of prisoners, added new names and stipulated their release in exchange for continuing implementation. Faced with these new conditions, the “National Committee for Inmate Affairs” in Sanaa tried to do everything in its power to preserve and finalize the deal, being able, until Thursday morning, to save the deal from deliberate attempts to frustrate the parties of the “reformer” party (Hermandad) in the governorship. Marib, and avoiding the problem of trying to impose 10 new names on the lists two days before the implementation date, to complete all the procedures for all parties, after a delay that lasted for several hours.

Thus, Sanaa seemed more interested in the success of the agreement, which from the beginning of its celebration was not intransigent in the requirements to reach it, since she did not refuse, for example, that the lists of her prisoners include the names of some fishermen kidnapped by aggressive forces or others detained by the forces. Saudi Arabia as it tries to sneak into the kingdom through the southern border of the kingdom in search of job opportunities. His premise in this is that all Yemenis are respected and there is no “veto” against anyone, with the exception of some detainees pending cases that affect state security.

Today, the operation continues with the release of 150 prisoners in Sanaa, in exchange for receiving 200

Yesterday, the outer plaza of the Sanaa International Airport was packed with thousands of citizens who came from the capital and the governorates since dawn to receive the prisoners. After a delay that worried recipients, the implementation process began at exactly two in the afternoon on Thursday, with the arrival of the first UN planes carrying the freed. As expected, the operation began with the take off of a UN plane carrying 15 Saudis, four Sudanese and several prisoners of forces loyal to the Hadi government from Sanaa airport to Saudi Arabia’s airport, Abha. At the same time, another plane took off from Seiyun airport, located in Hadramout governorate, for Sana’a. During the early hours of yesterday night, the Sanaa airport had received three flights (two from Abha and one from Seiyun) carrying some 360 ​​prisoners from the Yemeni army and popular committees, after which a fourth plane arrived from the Seiyun airport with 112 prisoners. According to the “International Committee of the Red Cross”, 700 prisoners from both sides were released yesterday and the rest (of the 1080 included in the agreement) will be released today. According to information from Al-Akhbar, “Ansar Allah”, within the first group, released five journalists loyal to the “coalition” who were not included in the agreement. However, he held ten prisoners named on the lists after “Al-Islah” refused to release ten of his forces.
The head of the National Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs in Sanaa, Abdul Qadir Al-Murtado, announced at a press conference held at the international airport that the process will be completed on Friday by receiving 200 prisoners from the Aden airport to the capital, in exchange for his release of 150 prisoners. Al-Murtado pointed out that “the prisoners committee faced great difficulties until reaching the release process, due to the intransigence of some parties that tried to obstruct the implementation of the agreement,” adding that “Sanaa treated the prisoners’ file from a point of view from a purely humanitarian point of view, and we expect all parties to handle it from the very beginning. ” He stressed that “our willingness to enter directly into new consultations that will lead to new agreements.” For his part, the official spokesman of “Ansar Allah”, the head of his negotiating delegation, Muhammad Abd al-Salam, said that the release of Saudi and Sudanese prisoners in Sanaa comes to encourage the other party, noting that “(we ) we have made great concessions “in this file as a humanitarian file, again. Our willingness to enter into an exchange of all for all, and that is what we had demanded in Sweden. He assured the families of the rest of the prisoners that “we will continue this file until the last prisoner is released from the aggression jails”, indicating that “the presence of the Saudi prisoners is one of our strengths”, indicating that “those who left today they are only part of it, and we have more captured Saudi soldiers. “
The successful completion of the first phase of the prisoner exchange agreement was very well received locally and internationally, as a significant violation in the prisoner and detainee file, which has stalled since the signing of the Stockholm Agreement under the auspices of the United Nations on December 13, 2018.

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A royal welcome for editors
It was a show of the hospitality with which prisoners from the Yemeni army and popular committees were greeted in Sana’a, where red carpets were laid out and top state officials lined up to meet them, as the masses of recipients spread out from Sanaa International Airport to the “Paradise Tour” for a length of six kilometers. Amid revolutionary chants and chants, processions of freed prisoners departed from the airport to Al Sabeen Square, under strong protection, accompanied by 20 ambulances and 14 medical teams. On the other hand, the prisoners of the pro-Hadi forces received neither consideration nor reception, which angered dozens of activists on social media.

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