Yemen’s senior leader arrested after arrival at King Abdulaziz Airport

MARIB, Sept. 24 (YPA) – The Saudi authorities has arrested one of leaders of the Yemeni Islah Party, Rabie Al-Okaimi, after his arrival at King Abdulaziz Airport.

Mukhtar Al-Rahbi, a journalist affiliated with the Party, said on Sunday: The security authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia arrested Brigadier General Sheikh Rabie Al-Okaimi, the brother of the coalition-appointed former governor, Amin Al-Okaimi, when he arrived at the airport with his wife and children.

In October 2021, many media outlets had reported on Saudi Arabia’s arrest of Rabih Al-Okaimi, after discovering that he had conveyed some inaccurate information to Saudi Arabia about both Oman and Qatar after Riyadh recruited him to work as an informant in these two countries during the period of the siege of Qatar.

Saudi Arabia has arrested his brother Amin Al-Okaimi, since the beginning of 2022, placing him under house arrest.

Saudi Arabia held the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Islah Party in Yemen the full responsible for the defeats and setbacks that the coalition suffered. While Saudi Arabia failed to wrest the leadership of the local authority in the city of Marib from the hands of the Islah Party, after the governor of Marib, Sultan al-Arada, backed by the coalition had refused to hand over his position in the province, in addition to his position as a member of the Saudi-formed Presidential Leadership Council, led by Rashad al-Alimi, which has prompted Saudi Arabia to place “Al-Arada” house arrest for the past three months, before he was released last month, in light of the new alliance that Saudi Arabia restored with the Islah Party to confront the UAE in the areas of Yemen under the control of the coalition.

AA