Coalition’s intransigence freezes prisoners file again

SANAA, March 10 (YPA) – Once again, Saudi-led coalition party obstacles the progress of the prisoners’ file through its constant procrastination in the implementation of the exchange deals that are signed in each agreement, the last of which was a deal to exchange 1,420 prisoners that was agreed upon in mid-February under the United Nations sponsorship.

Head of the National Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs in Sanaa Abdelqader al-Mortada on Monday announced the suspension of the agreement that was recently signed in Jordan due to the failure of the other party to complete raising of the prisoners lists, especially Islah Party’s representative in Marib province.

These lists were supposed to be lifted immediately after the signing of the agreement in order to start the implementation of the exchange deal and then move to the second step of the agreement, which requires the formation of field committees to recover the dead bodies from all fronts and regions before the date of March 23, which was scheduled for a new round of negotiations on the prisoners file.

The delay in rising the names of prisoners till today by the coalition party reveals its lack of seriousness in implementing the recent agreement, and thus it is blocking the way for holding the new round of consultations.

Since the signing of the Sweden agreement, Sanaa has presented many initiatives, demonstrating its seriousness and commitment to implementing the terms of the agreement, in order to reach a comprehensive solution to close this file permanently.

Several initiatives were launched, which began with the release of the Saudi captive, soldier Musa Shoei Ali Awaji, at the beginning of the year 2019, followed by the initiative of releasing three Saudi prisoners within Sanaa initiative, during which 350 prisoners were released on the 29th of September, 2019.

In an attempt to push the file of the prisoners forward, Sanaa presented a third initiative on January 1, 2020, by releasing six Saudi prisoner soldiers, and announced at the time that it was awaiting a similar step from Riyadh.

In contrast, the coalition worked to obstruct the prisoners file, indifferent to the fate of thousands of prisoners who were captured while fighting in its ranks. Furthermore, the coalition bombed and killed the prisoners in Dhamar province at the beginning of January, 2919, revealing its clear disregard for the blood of these prisoners.

Although the Sweden agreement provides for the exchange of 17,000 prisoners between the two parties, the coalition did not engage in comprehensive exchanges, as agreed, and so the number of prisoners released did not exceed dozens, and most of the exchange deals were made through a local mediation.

On October 25, 2019, al-Mortada confirmed that no prisoner has been freed through the United Nations despite the existence of the agreement signed by the two parties under its auspices and supervision, and that all deals were done through local mediation.

Observers see that the coalition is deliberately obstructing the prisoners’ file to use it to pressure Sanaa in order to obtain political gain, and as a way to blackmail Yemenis during the upcoming rounds of negotiations to compensate for his military loss.

YPA