RIYADH — Brig. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki, spokesman of the Arab Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen, announced the release of 104 Houthi prisoners held by the Coalition, thanks to the humanitarian initiative made by Saudi Arabia. The Saudi move on Monday brings the number of prisoners exchanged during the current prisoner swap process to over 900.

The prisoners’ release is a unilateral move that fell outside the three-day prisoner swap, which ended on Sunday and was negotiated between Yemen’s legitimate government officials and Houthis. Al-Maliki said that the Coalition Command, in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross, has completed the procedures for the release of the 104 prisoners, and they were transferred and left for Sana’a on Monday.

“This initiative comes as an extension of previous humanitarian initiatives led by the Kingdom related to prisoners. It also supports the efforts to stabilize the truce and create an atmosphere of dialogue between the Yemeni parties to reach a comprehensive and sustainable political solution that ends the Yemeni crisis,” he said.

This initiative aims to urge the parties to the conflict to support the process of exchanging prisoners and detainees, and to end this file in accordance with the Islamic values, humanitarian principles, authentic Arab traditions, as well as the provisions of international humanitarian law contained in the texts and provisions of the Third Geneva Convention for Prisoners, the Saudi Press Agency reported quoting the Coalition spokesman.

Al-Maliki emphasized that the issue of ending the exchange of prisoners and detainees is to serve the interests of the political and military leadership of the Coalition that emanates from the well-established humanitarian principles.

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