Muscat negotiations...an agreement to release the politician “Muhammad Qahtan” in exchange for 50 Houthi prisoners

The United Nations and the Yemeni government negotiating delegation confirmed, on Wednesday, that an agreement had been reached to release prominent politician Mohammed Qahtan in an exchange deal with the Houthi militias.

Anatolia Agency quoted the spokesman for the government negotiating team, Majid Fadail, as saying that it was agreed in the ongoing negotiations in Muscat to release the leader of the Yemeni Islah Party, Muhammad Qahtan, in exchange for 50 Houthis.

In turn, the Office of the UN Envoy to Yemen said that the ongoing round of negotiations that began in the Sultanate of Oman regarding the file of detainees in connection with the conflict is taking place in a positive and constructive atmosphere so far.

The office confirmed via the “X” platform that the parties had reached an understanding on procedures to release detainees in connection with the conflict, including Muhammad Qahtan.

He stressed the importance of completing the negotiation of this understanding in a spirit of responsibility to achieve tangible results by releasing all detainees in connection with the conflict in accordance with the “all for all” principle.

The Office of the UN Envoy explained that the current round of negotiations comes as part of the ongoing UN efforts to support the parties to implement their obligations under the Stockholm Agreement.

It is clear that the Houthi militias are still delaying revealing the fate of politician Muhammad Qahtan, who has been kidnapped for more than 9 years now.

In this context, Saba Agency, the Houthi version, quoted the head of the militia negotiating delegation, Abdul Qadir Al-Murtada, as saying that the agreement included the release of Muhammad Qahtan in exchange for the release of 50 militia prisoners, and if he was dead, his body would be handed over in exchange for the government side handing over 50 bodies of those killed. Militia.

Qahtan, a prominent leader in the Yemeni Islah Party, was kidnapped by the Houthi militias on April 5, 2015. He is one of four people whom UN Security Council Resolution No. 2216 of 2015 called on the Houthis to release.

Source: Yemen Shabab Net + Agencies