Houthi leaders refuse mediation to release al-Sammad's secretary, who is detained by their intelligence
English - Thursday 02 September 2021 الساعة 10:38 am
Sana'a, NewsYemen, private:
Sources close to the Houthi militia, the Iranian arm in Yemen, confirmed that leaders within the militias reject all mediations that were made to release the press secretary of the Houthi leader and head of the Political Council of the militias, Saleh Al-Samad, who was killed on April 18, 2018, in a coalition airstrike in Hodeidah Governorate.
The press secretary of the leader, Muhammad al-Warith, was arrested by Houthi militia intelligence less than a year after al-Sammad’s death on charges of communicating with the coalition, which the militias kept quiet about, except for some signs that revealed his arrest by some leaders associated with militias, most notably Muhammad al-Maqaleh. In one of his tweets, he questioned the reason for the arrest of Al-Sammad's press secretary, accusing Houthi leader Ahmed Hamed, director of the presidential office in the militia authority, of being behind his arrest.
The sources, who spoke to NewsYemen, indicated that the arrest of the heir came in the context of the conflict between the leadership wings within the militias, where all the journalistic, media and administrative cadres who were working in Al-Samad's team were arrested and expelled by the militia leader and the director of the presidential office, Ahmed Hamed (Abu Mahfouz). And the arrest of some of them, most notably the press secretary, Muhammad al-Warith, who opposed the procedures practiced by Hamid against employees in the presidential office affiliated with al-Sammad.
According to the sources, some Houthi leaders tried to mediate for the release of the heir, but their mediation was rejected, and Hamid personally informed the mediators that the heir was involved in espionage operations with abroad, and that he could not be released.
The sources concluded by noting that the heir’s family and relatives were threatened to prevent them from communicating with him permanently, and even to arrest them if they raised his case in the media or through social media, which forced them to remain silent about the continued detention of their son until now, despite their realization that the process of his arrest is linked to conflicts between The militia leaders have nothing to do with the accusations leveled against him by the intelligence services and some militia leaders.
