Houthis release former Yemeni minister

By Aziz al-Ahmadi

SANAA, Yemen (AA) - Yemen’s Houthi rebel group on Monday released the former culture minister after day-long detention, a government source said.

On Sunday, Khaled al-Ruwaishan was picked up from his home in the capital Sanaa, which has been under the control of Houthi rebels since September 2014.

Al-Ruwaishan, was set free after great pressure, a government source told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity without elaborating what it meant.

Local media outlets, meanwhile, said that al-Ruwaishan’s Bani Jabr tribe played a role in his release.

The former minister is known for his critical writings on the Houthis since the outbreak of the conflict in Yemen in March 2015.

Al-Ruwaishan's arrest came a week after a Houthi court issued a non-final death sentence against four journalists among 10 captured by the Iran-backed militias since March 2015.

The country has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when the Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.

Tens of thousands of Yemenis, including civilians, are believed to have been killed in the conflict, which has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis as millions remain at risk of starvation.