The Iran-backed Houthi militias launched recruitment campaigns among Ibb prisoners in their efforts to compensate for the shortage of their fighters, according to well-informed sources.
The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that top Houthi leaders are accused of smuggling dozens of the group's prisoners from Ibb central prison, some of whom committed serious crimes.
Houthi leader Mohammad al-Dailami directed Judge Abdullah al-Sanea to release dozens of the group's prisoners, who will then be trained to join the ranks.
Dailami, Houthi Attorney General, issued the directives based on previous orders from the head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, urging him to carry out a campaign to recruit prisoners.
The sources stated that pro-militia agents in Ibb managed to release over 100 prisoners during their field visits over the past ten days to the central prison and other Houthi detention centers in the governorate.
The detainees were forced to agree to join the ranks of the group and undergo training.
Soleiman Muhammad, an alias for a relative of detainees in Ibb central prison, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Houthi leaders concluded deals with the families of many prisoners, including his, to release their relatives in exchange for financial ransoms.
He stated that his family reluctantly agreed to pay YR250,000 to release two of his brothers, 26 and 32, who had been detained for months on charges of criticizing the group's corruption and crime.
The group, Iran's ally in Yemen, previously pardoned hundreds of prisoners and detainees in Ibb in exchange for joining the group.
Last year, two deals were signed with about 85 prisoners, some of whom were charged with murder and theft. They were released in exchange for joining the battlefronts.
Last April, the group concluded similar deals with dozens of killers in Ibb prisons to release them in conjunction with human rights and international calls to release prisoners to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The released detainees received sectarian and military training.
Local reports had previously indicated that the militias transferred hundreds of prisoners and detainees in their Sanaa, Ibb, Dhamar, Hajjah, al-Mahwit, Hodeidah, and Amran prisons to secret places they had designated to hold indoctrination courses and sectarian training camps.
According to local sources, the group released at the beginning of this month from Hodeidah central prison more than 127 prisoners, who served half their sentences.
A human rights source in Sanaa, who preferred not to be named, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the group would continue in the coming weeks to attract more prisoners to recruit them to compensate the losses it suffered on various fronts.
