’The main goal behind the release of prisoners by the Houthis is to recruit the largest number of them’

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Abdullah Al-Shadli (South24)

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Between January 2023 and January 2024, the Iran-backed Houthis released about 6,784 prisoners in North Yemen. The Houthis said that the released persons had completed three quarters of their prison sentences and didn’t owe anyone any special rights. 

Although Yemeni law legitimizes such measures, according to what legal experts told ’South24 Center‘, questions arise about the real reasons and motives of the Houthis, especially since they are a non-state militia accused by their rivals of launching a coup against the authority in Sanaa. This is in addition to reports and information regarding the release of prisoners affiliated with the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Significantly, the released persons aren’t part of a prisoner-exchange operation between the Houthis and the Yemeni legitimate government. Most of them were likely imprisoned in criminal and security cases.

According to reports, published by the Houthi-affiliated Saba News Agency and seen by ’South24 Center‘, most of the released persons had previously served prison sentences in serious and non-serious criminal cases. 

Release operations

According to statistics prepared by ’South24 Center‘, the number of prisoners officially released by the Houthi militia between January 30, 2023, and January 27, 2024, stands at around 6,784.

The table includes details about the released prisoners from the Houthi prisons in North Yemen from January 2023 to January 2024 (South24 Center)
Date	Governorate	Number of released prisoners
27.01.2024	Al-Hodeida	140
23.01.2024	Ibb	80
22.01.2024	Sanaa	8
20.01.2024	Sanaa	10
17.01.2024	Dhamar	74
14.01.2024	Sanaa	53
13.01.2024	Hajjah	60
11.01.2024	Al-Hodeida	22
10.01.2024	Sanaa	41
10.01.2024	Al-Hodeida	35
08.01.2024	Al-Hodeida	163
31.12.2023	Al-Hodeida	76
02.12.2023	Al-Hodeida	34
28.12.2023	Ibb	3030
29.09.2023	Amran	239
25.09.2023	Al-Hodeida	158
25.09.2023	Saada	295
25.09.2023	Dhamar	312
25.09.2023	Ibb	542
24.09.2023	Sanaa	206
21.08.2023	Al-Hodeida	24
15.08.2023	Hajjah	43
13.06.2023	Hajjah	20
24.05.2023	Al-Hodeida	15
15.03.2023	Ibb	133
13.03.2023	Ibb	222
12.03.2023	Dhamar	123
11.02.2023	Al-Bayda	117
02.03.2023	Saada	248
26.02.2023	Al-Hodeida and Raymah	145
18.02.2023	Sanaa	30
18.02.2023	Al-Hodeida	31
30.01.2023	Saada	55
Total		6784
Note: The statistics were directly taken from Saba News Agency affiliated with the Houthis. The original links are embedded in the names of the governorates

More than half of these prisoners, nearly 4,007, were released in Ibb governorate which shares a fierce fighting front with Al-Dhalea in South Yemen. At least 843 prisoners were released in Al-Hodeida and Raymah, 598 in Saada, 509 in Dhamar, 348 in Sanaa, 239 in Amran, 117 in Al-Bayda and 123 in Hajjah. 

Notably, the Houthis released a large number of these prisoners on special occasions or circumstances important for them. For example, in September 2023, on the Prophet's Birth Anniversary, the Houthis released 239 prisoners in Amran, 158 in Al-Hodeida, 295 in Saada, 312 in Dhamar, 542 in Ibb and 206 in Sanaa, making a total 1,752 prisoners. 

On November 28, 2023, the Public Prosecution in Ibb, which is controlled by the Houthis, released 3,030 prisoners, the largest batch to be released during the year. The release operation came days after the Houthis hijacked the cargo ship ’Galaxy Leader‘ in the Red Sea and dragged it to the Port of Al-Hodeida claiming that it has links with Israel. This was part of the Houthi’s public mobilization campaign to recruit tens of thousands of armed men in North Yemen in the name of Palestine. 

Articles of Law

Legal advisor Khaled Huwaidi noted that Yemeni law includes a clause known as “conditional release”. It is a legal process that allows for the release of prisoners who have completed three quarters of their sentences, fulfilled all financial obligations imposed on them and demonstrated good behavior inside the detention facility. 

He told ’South24 Center‘: “This procedure is based on the assessment within the punitive institution. It depends on the provisions and rules put by the legislator in Article 506 and the subsequent penal proceedings. However, the released prisoners should be monitored for some period.”

He added: “If Article 506 of the Criminal Law allows for the conditional release of anyone who has been permanently sentenced to a freedom-restricting penalty, the internal ruling of the Prison Law stipulates in Article (94/5) that the release of the convict shall not pose a threat to public security.” 

 Huwaidi indicated that “The release of convicts involved in crimes that harm state security isn’t allowed, as stipulated in Articles 121-136 of the Criminal Law.”

According to Judge Abdulrahman Al-Nazilit, Chief Prosecutor affiliated with the Houthis, the proceedings to release thousands of prisoners in Ibb “were according to the orders of the Attorney General to grant conditional release to convicts who had completed three quarters of their imprisonment sentences while providing the necessary guarantees in cases under investigation, so that these persons do not pose a danger to society.”

Houthis' undeclared goals

Yemeni politician Ali al-Sarari accuses the Houthis of releasing this high number of prisoners to evade the legal responsibilities resulting from what many of them had endured. He claimed that “some of them were imprisoned using illegal methods. They were detained in inhuman conditions and treated in a way that violates international laws, charters and agreements.” 

He told ’South24 Center‘ that some prisoners were tortured and even blackmailed. 

Military sources told ’South24 Center‘ that the main goal behind the release of prisoners by the Houthis is to recruit the largest number of them as part of their big military recruitment operation, which hasn't even excluded children. 

On Tuesday (February 13), Human Rights Watch said: “The Houthis say they have recruited thousands of people to their armed forces since October 7, 2023, and activists report the armed group recruiting children as young as 13.”

The rights organization added. “Recruiting children younger than 15 is a war crime.” “The Houthis are exploiting the Palestinian cause to recruit more children for their domestic fight in Yemen.” 

Al-Sarari doesn’t exclude “economic reasons” behind the Houthi’s release of thousands of prisoners, “so as to escape the burden of bearing their food and health expenses in prisons”.

He added: “The Houthis also need to compensate their fighters in spite of their big losses at the fighting fronts.”

Yesterday, the Houthi government spokesman, Dhaif Allah al-Shami, revealed in a press conference that the group had recruited and trained more than 200,000 fighters for the “battle of the promised conquest and holy jihad” in support of Palestine.

The Yemeni Internationally-Recognized Government has previously accused the Houthis of coordinating with AQAP and releasing members of the terror group from prisons in Sanaa and other cities in North Yemen, controlled by the Houthis. 

In December 2022, Rashad Al-Alimi, Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC - the executive body of Yemen's internationally recognized government) told Saudi channel ’Al-Arabiya‘: “Our detainees sentenced in terror cases, including the attack on the American destroyer USS Cole1, were released by the terrorist Houthi militia. They supplied them with weapons, equipment and money and unleashed them in areas controlled by the legitimate government to carry out terrorist operations.”

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1 On October 12, 2000, two Al-Qaida suicide bombers attacked the USS Cole, a US warship refueling in the Port of Aden. The suicide bombers had placed nearly 500 pounds of explosives inside a small fishing vessel and maneuvered it alongside the Cole, blasting a large hole near the ship’s galley. The attack killed 17 American sailors, injured 40 other crew members, and nearly sunk the Cole.