Text of the statement

The Information and Culture Department of the Yemeni Islah Party followed with great interest the release of 5 journalists abducted by the Houthi coup militia, among hundreds of prisoners and abductees in the exchange deal that was sponsored by the United Nations and supervised by the International Red Cross.

The Department welcomes the release of a number of journalists who were abducted more than 5 years ago, during which they were subjected to forms of torture, cruel and inhuman treatment, and enforced disappearance in the prisons of the Houthi coup militia, which dropped all human values and moral principles from the dictionary of its dealings with the Yemeni people, especially the journalists and media activists who they were a nightmare of its bloody racist project.

We greet the sacrifices of these free strugglers who are pioneers of the free word and witnesses of truth to their legendary struggle and steadfastness in the face of the rebellious gangs, the impiety of torture and the executioners of the Imami project, who did not relent before the power of the jailers and their brutal attacks. We express our great joy after they gained their freedom, for they were rightly symbols of a national struggle and a wall against which the shovels of demolishing the republic were destroyed. They are also a freedom icon that exposed dynastic bats of darkness and human rights violators.

However, our joy remains incomplete while the rest of their colleagues and comrades of struggle and steadfastness are still in the prisons of the Imamate militia, stressing that it is the cause of these brave men that will remain a priority until they attain their complete freedom.

In this regard, we call for the speedy release of the remaining fellow journalists and media professionals, and we call on the United Nations and its envoy to Yemen, Mr. Martin Griffiths, to work and exert pressure for the release of the rest of the abducted journalists and media professionals who have faced more than 5 years of arrogance and paid with their families, a great cost for their principled positions and their practice of journalism. We also call on all human rights and humanitarian organizations, foremost of which those concerned with the rights of journalists and media professionals, to take action to release their abducted colleagues.

At the time the Information Department greets the steadfastness of the journalists in this five-year battle, it congratulates all the families of the abducted, the prisoners of the National Army, the Popular Resistance and the Arab Alliance who were released. The Department affirms that working to release the remaining civilians in the militia’s prisons is a humanitarian mission that should not be subject to political blackmail.

Issued by the Information and Culture Department of the General Secretariat of the Yemeni Islah Party

October 16, 2020