Abducted Yemeni prisoner Samira Maresh has been liberated

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen Net
16 Apr 2023 22:44
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Samira Maresh, a mother of three, was abducted back in 2018 from her home in the city of Al-Hazm.

Samira Maresh saluting Yemeni masses upon arrival in Sanaa airport on March 16, 2023. (Twitter)

The head of the Prisoners' Committee of the Sanaa government, Abdul Qadir Al-Murtada, revealed that Samira Maresh was among those liberated today in the prisoner swap.

"We released 4 criminals affiliated with Saudi Arabia who had been sentenced to death in exchange for Samira Maresh's liberation," Al-Murtada said.

لحظات بسيطة موثقة من لحظة وصول واستقبال البطلة #سميرة_مارش في مطار صنعاء الدولي pic.twitter.com/tZU5cywLj3
— سلطان ابن السدح (@sultanalsadeh) April 16, 2023

Samira Maresh, a mother of three, was abducted back in 2018 from her home in the city of Al-Hazm in the Al-Jawf Governorate, and was then jailed in a prison in Marib. Forces of the Hadi regime affiliated with the aggression coalition had accused her of "espionage for the Ansar Allah movement". Her mother, however, had denied those allegations.

The Sanaa government has persistently tried to liberate Maresh, proposing different mediators to the UN envoy, but Riyadh had thwarted all efforts, all while human rights organizations and advocates for women's liberation remained silent.

The prisoner's committee of the Sanaa government had offered the release of any prisoner requested by the Hadi forces for Samira's liberty, but the latter refused.

Maresh landed in Sanaa, five years after she was abducted from her home, with 105 other liberated prisoners who were in the prisons of Hadi's Islah party and the coalition.

A large-scale prisoner exchange operation between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, mediated and organized by the Red Cross, began on Friday, with the first plane leaving Sanaa for Aden.

Yemen has been under an international war waged mainly by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and backed by the United States for the past 9 years; however, in light of positive regional developments, Saudi Arabia has halted hostilities in favor of negotiations in what seems to be initiatives to end the war.

In a statement released yesterday by the Foreign Ministry, Saudi Arabia expressed its interest in a "comprehensive and sustainable political solution" for the conflict.

The statement also revealed that the negotiating team's meetings in Sanaa were transparent, positive, and constructive, noting that the Saudi delegation's visit to Sanaa is an extension of "the Saudi initiative and the positive momentum provided by the UN armistice."

#Statement | The Saudi team held a number of meetings in Sanaa, which witnessed in-depth discussions on a number of issues related to the humanitarian situation; Including the release of all prisoners of war, reaching a cease-fire, and a comprehensive political solution in Yemen. pic.twitter.com/5NlSXmeGNv
— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) April 15, 2023

Also, a member of the Supreme Political Council in Yemen, Mohammad Ali Al-Houthi, said that the Ansar Allah movement is looking forward to "a comprehensive end to the war and not to a truce".

Al-Houthi revealed, during an interview with CNN, that Ansar Allah's demands from Saudi Arabia and the coalition are not out of the ordinary, as "they will include opening the skies, lifting the siege and restoring commercial activity," noting that these are not demands but rights.