Yemen's Houthis to set free 350 prisoners

Source: Xinhua| 2019-09-30 18:16:37|Editor: Xiang Bo
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SANAA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthis said they will release 350 prisoners, including three Saudis, on Monday under the UN supervision, the group's TV al-Masirah reported.

"The prisoners who will be released today are on the exchange prisoner list agreed in Stockholm Agreement," said Abdulkader al-Murtada, head of Houthi prisoner affairs committee.

"We call on the other side to carry out the same step," he said in a statement.

There was no comment from the United Nations.

The Houthis and the Yemeni government agreed to exchange around 7,000 war prisoners in December 2018 as part of the UN-sponsored Stockholm deal.

However, both sides have since failed to implement the deal, which focused on troops withdrawal from Hodeidah port city and exchange of prisoners as the first phase toward a comprehensive political solution to end civil war.

Monday's move would be the first breakthrough in the prisoner swap deal.

Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military coalition against Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen for more than four years in support of the exiled internationally-recognized government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

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