Yemen’s Houthi rebels could free a rival political leader held incommunicado since 2015, UN says

Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels could free a political leader with ties to the internationally recognized government who has been detained for nearly a decade, under a preliminary prisoner swap deal announced by the United Nations. Mohamed Qahtan is a leader of the Sunni Islamist Islah party, which is aligned with the Saudi Arabia-backed government. The U.N. said Monday that he has been held incommunicado by the Iranian-backed Houthis since 2015. The office of U.N. special envoy Hans Grundberg convened a meeting in Oman with the International Committee of the Red Cross over the weekend to facilitate talks centered on a prisoner exchange. The U.N. says the two Yemeni sides agreed to meet to discuss the final list of who will be released and details of Qahtan’s release.