Yemeni government, Houthis to trade 887 inmates during Ramadan

Yemenis leave with their freed relatives following a prisoner exchange ceremony between the Houthis and  government forces, in Taiz. (File/AFP)
Yemenis leave with their freed relatives following a prisoner exchange ceremony between the Houthis and government forces, in Taiz. (File/AFP)
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Updated 21 March 2023

Yemeni government, Houthis to trade 887 inmates during Ramadan

Yemeni government, Houthis to trade 887 inmates during Ramadan
  • Yemenis hail the prisoner swap agreement and demand its swift implementation

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the Iran-backed Houthis agreed on Monday to exchange over 800 inmates in a deal monitored by the UN and the International Red Cross. 

Representatives of the Yemeni government and the Houthis concluded the final day of this round of prisoner swap negotiations in Switzerland by announcing the release of 887 prisoners during the holy month of Ramadan, followed by another round of negotiations after the agreed-upon prisoners are released.

The deal has renewed optimism for the release of thousands more detainees in the coming months, as well as the signing of a peace deal to put an end to the war.

Abdulkader Al-Murtada, head of the Houthis’ prisoner exchange committee, said that the deal would result in the release of 706 Houthi inmates and 181 captives from the Yemeni government and the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen in three weeks.

The Yemeni government said in a statement that up to 706 Houthis would be “immediately” exchanged for 181 government inmates, including four journalists sentenced to death by the Houthis and 19 prisoners from the coalition.

The Houthis have also agreed to release former Defense Minister Mohammed Mahmoud Al-Subaihi; Gen. Nasser Mansour Hadi, the brother of former Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi; the abducted sons of former Vice President Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmer; as well as Mohammed Abdullah Saleh and his cousin Afash, the siblings of Presidential Leadership Council member Tareq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh. The Houthis refused to release Gen. Faisal Rajab of the Yemeni army and Islah leader Mohammed Gahtan.

Despite criticism over the exchange of hundreds of Houthi combatants for Yemeni civilians, Yemenis hailed the prisoner swap deal and demanded its swift implementation.

“We hope that, unlike in the past, the Houthis will not violate this deal. We hope that the UN will exert direct pressure for the execution of this agreement prior to the beginning of Ramadan,” Hisham Al-Yousifi, a Yemeni journalist who was abducted by the Houthis in 2015 and released during a major prisoner swap in 2020, told Arab News.

Separately, the government of Yemen has accused the Houthis of killing an abducted Yemeni internet influencer in the province of Ibb following months of cruel maltreatment. Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani said that the Houthis executed Hamdi Abdel-Razzaq, also known as Al-Mukahal, a social media influencer kidnapped by the Houthis in October for criticizing the militia’s corruption, its treatment of dissidents, and its role in exacerbating poverty.

Yemeni officials said that the Houthis had tortured the man for months before revealing his death on Sunday, saying that he committed suicide.

“The crime of liquidating the activist Abdel-Razzaq in the Houthi detention center in Ibb is not the first such incident. Hundreds of abductees and forcibly disappeared met the same fate in illegal militia detention centers,” the Yemeni minister said on Twitter.

Last year, Abdel-Razzaq appeared in widely disseminated videos on social media platforms, fiercely denouncing the Houthi movement and its leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi for stealing state money, failing to pay public workers in regions under their control, and repressing dissidents with extreme force.


Iran frees one Danish, two Austrian-Iranian citizens

Iran frees one Danish, two Austrian-Iranian citizens
Updated 02 June 2023

Iran frees one Danish, two Austrian-Iranian citizens

Iran frees one Danish, two Austrian-Iranian citizens
  • Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo informed the governments of Denmark and Austria of the release

BRUSSELS: Iran on Friday released one Danish and two Austrian-Iranian citizens it had been holding after mediation by Oman, and they are being flown to Belgium, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said.
He added that he had informed the governments of Denmark and Austria of the release, which came a week after Tehran freed a Belgian aid worker in exchange for an Iranian diplomat who was convicted on terrorism charges.


NATO chief to visit Turkiye for Erdogan inauguration

NATO chief to visit Turkiye for Erdogan inauguration
Updated 02 June 2023

NATO chief to visit Turkiye for Erdogan inauguration

NATO chief to visit Turkiye for Erdogan inauguration
  • Trip comes as pressure builds on Recep Tayyip Erdogan to drop his opposition to Sweden joining NATO
  • Turkiye and Hungary are the only two member countries yet to ratify Sweden’s membership bid

BRUSSELS: NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg will visit Turkiye at the weekend to attend the inauguration of re-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and hold talks with him, the alliance said Friday.
The trip comes as pressure builds on Erdogan to drop his opposition to Sweden joining NATO.
Stoltenberg on Thursday said during a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Norway that he would soon visit Ankara to work toward Sweden joining “as early as possible,” after speaking with Erdogan by phone earlier this week.
The NATO statement said Stoltenberg would attend Erdogan’s inauguration on Saturday. The Turkish president was last week re-elected to serve another five-year term.
The statement said the visit would extend into Sunday and Stoltenberg would “have bilateral meetings with President Erdogan and with senior Turkish officials.”
NATO member Turkiye has dragged its feet over admitting Sweden to the military alliance. It and Hungary are the only two member countries yet to ratify Sweden’s membership bid.
Finland formally joined the alliance in April.
Erdogan has accused Sweden of being a haven for “terrorists,” especially members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom on Thursday said his country has fulfilled all its commitments to join, and “it is time for Turkiye and Hungary to start the ratification of the Swedish membership to NATO.”
Many of the ministers who attended the Oslo meeting said they wanted to see Sweden join before a NATO summit in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius on July 11-12.
Stoltenberg has said that goal is “absolutely possible.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, whose country is the dominant member of NATO, also said on Thursday that “we fully anticipate” Sweden joining by the Vilnius summit.


From Jordan, Jill Biden arrives in Cairo as part of Mideast tour aiming to empower women, youth

From Jordan, Jill Biden arrives in Cairo as part of Mideast tour aiming to empower women, youth
Updated 02 June 2023

From Jordan, Jill Biden arrives in Cairo as part of Mideast tour aiming to empower women, youth

From Jordan, Jill Biden arrives in Cairo as part of Mideast tour aiming to empower women, youth
  • The tour marks Biden’s first visit to the Middle East as first lady
  • Her six-day trip across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe seeks to empower women and promote education for young people

CAIRO: Jill Biden arrived in Cairo on Friday, on the second leg of her six-day trip across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe that seeks to empower women and promote education for young people.
The first lady arrived in the Egyptian capital from Amman, Jordan, where she attended the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein and Saudi architect Rajwa Alsei f on Thursday. She is traveling to Morocco on Saturday before heading to Portugal, the final stop of her tour, on Monday.
The nuptials in Jordan drew a star-studded list — headlined by Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate — but also held deep significance for the region, emphasizing continuity in an Arab state prized for its long standing stability.
Egypt is one of the largest recipients in the Mideast of American economic and military aid and a longstanding US ally. However, in recent years, US lawmakers have sought to condition that aid on human rights improvements and reforms.
Biden was greeted on the tarmac by Entissar Amer, Egypt’s first lady, and was later to meet with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi before visiting a technical school in the capital.
Biden’s spokesperson, Vanessa Valdivia, told The Associated Press last week that the first lady’s visit to Egypt will also focus on US investments that support education programs.
Since coming to power in 2013, El-Sisi’s government has overseen a wide-ranging crackdown on dissent, jailing thousands. The government have targeted not only Islamist political opponents but also pro-democracy activists, journalists and online critics.
The tour marks Biden’s first visit to the Middle East as first lady. She traveled to Namibia and Kenya in February.


Lebanon’s Hezbollah says not linked to accused in UNIFIL peacekeeper killing

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says not linked to accused in UNIFIL peacekeeper killing
Updated 02 June 2023

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says not linked to accused in UNIFIL peacekeeper killing

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says not linked to accused in UNIFIL peacekeeper killing

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Friday denied that five men accused by a military tribunal of killing an Irish UN peacekeeper in 2022 were linked to the armed Shiite group.
A court document filed on Thursday had identified some of the five as members of Hezbollah and allied movement Amal, according to a senior Lebanese judicial source.
Hezbollah media official Mohammad Afif said the five accused were not members of the group, which controls the part of southern Lebanon where last year’s attack took place, and also denied that the indictment had described them as Hezbollah members.
Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed on Dec. 15 in the first fatal attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon since 2015.
Afif said Hezbollah had played a big role after the killing in reducing tensions and in local people’s cooperation with the army and judicial investigation.
His comments are the first by a Hezbollah official since Thursday’s reported indictment. The Amal Movement, which is headed by Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, has so far declined to comment.
The judicial source had said evidence was drawn from camera recordings in which the accused refer to themselves as members of Hezbollah. A second judicial source confirmed that camera evidence was mentioned in the 30-page court document.
Hezbollah has previously denied involvement in the killing, calling it an “unintentional incident” that took place solely between the town’s residents and the UNIFIL peacekeeping force.


UAE’s mandatory midday work break starts June 15

UAE’s mandatory midday work break starts June 15
Updated 02 June 2023

UAE’s mandatory midday work break starts June 15

UAE’s mandatory midday work break starts June 15
  • Working in open spaces and under direct sunlight is not allowed from 12:30 p.m. until 3:00 p.m.
  • Companies are also required to provide shaded areas where workers can rest during the midday break

DUBAI: The UAE’s mandatory midday break for all outdoor workers will start on June 15, the 19th consecutive year the ban has been enforced to protect employees from the intense summer heat.

Working in open spaces and under direct sunlight is not allowed from 12:30 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. until Sept 15 this year, with daily working hours in both morning and evening shifts restricted to eight hours.

Any employee made to work more than eight hours in a 24-hour period will be considered to have worked overtime and must be compensated for it.

Companies are also required to provide shaded areas where workers can rest during the midday break.

Employers found flouting the regulations will be fined approximately $1,360 for each worker they require to work during required midday break, with a maximum of $13,614 penalty in case multiple workers are involved.

The implementation of the midday break is in line with Ministerial Resolution No. (44) of 2022 on Occupational Health and Safety and Labor Accommodation, which aims to provide adequate working environments that protect workers from occupational hazards and prevents work-related injuries or illnesses, a report from state news agency WAM said.

“We are confident that employers across the country will comply with the provisions of the ban. Over the past years, we have seen impressive compliance rates, which confirms the level of awareness in the market about the importance of this decision and its effective role in protecting workers from the hazards of direct exposure to sunlight or working in open spaces around naloon,” according to Mohsen Al-Nassi, assistant undersecretary for inspection affairs at the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation.

There are however exemptions to the midday break, particularly jobs that “require work to continue uninterrupted and they are exempted from implementing the midday work ban for technical reasons,” WAM reported.

These include laying asphalt or pouring concrete – when it is impractical to postpone these tasks – as well as works needed to contain hazards or repair damage that affects the community, such as interruptions to water supply or electricity, cutting off traffic, and other major issues.

“The exemptions also include works that require a permit from a relevant government authority to be implemented, given their impact on the flow of traffic and services. These tasks require non-stop work, including cutting or diverting main traffic routes, power lines, and communications,” WAM said.

Employers are also required to provide sufficient cold drinking water for workers exempted from the midday ban, as well as provide hydrating food, such as salts and/or other food items approved for use by the local authorities.