Yemeni Govt. Condemns Houthi Deportation of Baha’i Leaders

A file photo of Sanaa, Yemen. (AFP)
A file photo of Sanaa, Yemen. (AFP)
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Yemeni Govt. Condemns Houthi Deportation of Baha’i Leaders

A file photo of Sanaa, Yemen. (AFP)
A file photo of Sanaa, Yemen. (AFP)

The Yemeni legitimate government officially denounced the Houthi militias for forcing six Baha’i leaders into exile, labeling the deportation a crime.

The Iran-backed Houthis, two days ago, had forcibly exiled six Baha’i community members, including Hamid Haydara, the leader of the faith group in Yemen. The leaders had boarded a plane to leave Sanaa after the Houthis gave them given an ultimatum of either departing the country or returning to prison.

"What happened is as heinous as the crime of abducting them from their houses, holding them at detention centers for years, exposing them to the worst physical and psychological tortures and appropriating their properties," Information Minister Muammar al-Eryani said.

In official statements, he blasted the Houthis for forcibly exiling the Baha’i leaders, saying that it constitutes a flagrant violation of international laws and conventions and labeling it a crime against humanity.

Eryani also said that the deportation reflects the level of oppression faced by citizens in Houthi-run areas due to their racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds.

The minister also called upon the international community, the UN chief, UN special envoy to Yemen and all international organizations concerned with human rights and defending minorities to condemn this "dangerous precedent" and to pressure Houthis into stopping their racist acts against religious minorities in Yemen.

Well-informed sources in Sanaa confirmed on Sunday that the Baha’is were initially released in response to UN efforts. The sources, however, revealed that the Houthis gave them an ultimatum of either staying in prison or leaving Houthi-run territory. This comes despite the militias allegedly issuing general amnesty for the Baha’is some four months ago.



French, Algerian Ties ‘Back to Normal’, France Says after Talks

This handout photograph released by French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) shows France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) being received by Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune in Algiers on April 6, 2025. (French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs / AFP)
This handout photograph released by French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) shows France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) being received by Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune in Algiers on April 6, 2025. (French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs / AFP)
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French, Algerian Ties ‘Back to Normal’, France Says after Talks

This handout photograph released by French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) shows France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) being received by Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune in Algiers on April 6, 2025. (French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs / AFP)
This handout photograph released by French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) shows France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) being received by Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune in Algiers on April 6, 2025. (French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs / AFP)

France's foreign minister said on Sunday that ties with Algeria were back to normal after he held 2 1/2 hours of talks with Algeria's president following months of bickering that have hurt Paris' economic and security interests in its former colony.

Ties between Paris and Algiers have been complicated for decades, but took a turn for the worse last July when Macron angered Algeria by recognizing a plan for autonomy for the Western Sahara region under Moroccan sovereignty.

A poor relationship has major security, economic and social repercussions: trade is extensive and some 10% of France's 68 million population has links to Algeria, according to French officials.

"We are reactivating as of today all the mechanisms of cooperation in all sectors. We are going back to normal and to repeat the words of President (Abdelmadjid) Tebboune: 'the curtain is lifted'," Jean-Noel Barrot said in a statement at the presidential palace in Algiers after 2 1/2 hours of talks.

His visit comes after a call between President Emmanuel Macron and his counterpart Tebboune on March 31, during which the two agreed to a broad roadmap to calm tensions.

French officials say Algiers had put obstacles to administrative authorizations and new financing for French firms operating in the country.

Nowhere was that felt more than in wheat imports. Traders say the diplomatic rift led Algerian grains agency OAIC to tacitly exclude French wheat and firms in its import tenders since October. OAIC has said it treats all suppliers fairly, applying technical requirements.

Barrot said he had specifically brought up the difficulties regarding economic exchanges, notably in the agrobusiness, automobile and maritime transport sectors.

"President Tebboune reassured me of his will to give them new impetus," Barrot said.

Beyond business, the relationship has also soured to the point where security cooperation stopped. The detention by Algiers in November of 80-year-old Franco-Algerian author Boualem Sansal also worsened the relationship.

He has since been sentenced to five years in prison. Barrot said he hoped a gesture of "humanity" could be made by Algiers given his age and health.

With Macron's government under pressure to toughen immigration policies, the spat has fed into domestic politics in both countries.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has called for a 1968 pact between the two countries that makes it easier for Algerians to settle in France to be reviewed, after Algiers refused to take back some of its citizens who were ordered to leave France under the "OQTF" (obligation to leave French territory) deportation regime.

Barrot said Retailleau would soon go to Algiers and that the two sides would resume cooperation on judicial issues.

The relationship between the two countries is scarred by the trauma of the 1954-1962 war in which the North African country, which had a large settler population and was treated as an integral part of France under colonial rule, won independence.