After US sources reported the house arrest of the resigned former Yemeni president, informed sources said that London was mediating to get him out of the detention.
Faraan: Informed sources reported that Richard Oppenheim, the British ambassador to Yemen, is trying to persuade Saudi Arabia to release Abdurrahman Mansour Hadi, the former head of the resigned Yemeni government, and members of his family.
The Wall Street Journal recently quoted several Saudi and Yemeni sources as saying that Mansour Hadi had been forced to step down by Riyadh and that Saudi security officials had placed him under house arrest at his residence in Riyadh. The former head of the resigned Yemeni government on April 7, in an unexpected decision and while the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia “Muhammad bin Salman” was in Riyadh, “Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar” removed his deputy from his post and then transferred power to the ‘The Presidential Council’ headed by Rashad Al-Alimi.
As a result of this transfer of power, the Presidential Council took over the political, military and security administration of the country during the transition phase in the areas under the control of the Saudi coalition. Additionally, it was responsible for negotiating with the Ansarullah movement regarding the ceasefire. This council, chaired by Rashad Mohammad Al-Alimi and with the membership of seven other people, has taken over all the powers of Mansour Hadi and his deputy, whose other members are: Abdullah Al-Alimi, Osman Majli and Faraj Al-Bahsani.
Al-Akhbar reported on Thursday that Riyadh still does not accept Hadi’s departure from Saudi territory; In return, however, he promised London that he would ease the restrictions on his communication. In an interview with the Lebanese newspaper, several political sources affiliated with the former head of the resigned government stated: “He was arrested at the hotel where he was staying in Riyadh after being seen with the new council chairman and members of the council. His two sons, Nasser and Jalal, have been taken to an unknown location and have since lost contact with him and all his family members.”
The sources, who themselves took part in the consultations in Riyadh, further pointed out that Riyadh had cut off the telephone and internet connection of Mansour Hadi’s residence and had severely put the residence under security measures. According to these sources, Hadi’s children have been banned from visiting their father. Owing to this fact, Mansour Hadi sent a petition to the Court of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stating that he wanted to immigrate to London to continue living with his family. Al-Akhbar added: “However, Riyadh has informed him that he will remain under” their supervision “.
The sources also reported that just two days after the resignation of the resigned government, the British ambassador to Yemen was working to free Hadi’s two sons and a number of his family members. The Lebanese newspaper wrote: Anis Mansour, an adviser to the Yemeni embassy in Riyadh, revealed in his account:” British pressure prompted Saudi authorities to release Hadi’s children, grandchildren and his media team after confiscating their equipment, including mobile phones.”
Sources close to Hadi were quoted as saying: “Saudi officials have frozen the bank accounts of the former president’s sons and relatives and issued a circular to the banks ordering them to stop interacting with him due to the end of his presidency. They also seized his private jet on April 13 and told the crew members not to interact with him or his family. The plane is now under the chairmanship of the new chairman of the board. Al-Akhbar noted that after the order was issued, all members of Hadi’s office, including the media group, the order group and the aircraft crew, had been released. On the 10th of this month, he commissioned a committee to seize Hadi’s assets in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The Lebanese media also reported that over the past two weeks, the Saudi officials had received requests from several Yemeni politicians living in Riyadh to meet with Hadi; But Riyadh has opposed these requests and ignored them. According to the report, following reports of Mansour Hadi’s deteriorating condition and the launch of the hashtag (Where is Hadi?) on social media by Yemeni users, the Saudi intelligence service released a picture of him to cover Hadi’s deteriorating news and deny the limitations of his connection. However, the image, in which a man in Saudi dress was seen in a small room next to Hadi, fueled suspicions about his arrest, especially as Hadi’s cell phone was unplugged.
On the other hand, Al-Akhbar added that the Saudi officials and the Presidential Council were surprised to see Hadi’s message to the presidents of Arab and Islamic countries on Saturday, in which Hadi was called “the president of Yemen.” According to the report, some countries remained silent in the face of the news; But Libya’s official news agency reported that the head of the country’s presidential council, Mohammed al-Manfi, had received a congratulatory message from Mansour Hadi on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, in which he was named president of Yemen.
The newspaper added that some observers saw the letter as a sign of opposition to Hadi’s removal from Yemeni politics. Following the message, the Saudi officials launched an investigation into the message sent by the group around Hadi, while the resigned government’s foreign ministry reaffirmed in an order to its affiliated embassies that Mansour Hadi was no longer the head of Yemen.
The report finally states: “According to several Yemeni political sources, Britain is still mediating to oust the former president from Saudi Arabia and is conducting diplomatic efforts to secure his release and that of his family members; But Riyadh has so far promised to reduce only measures and will not accept Hadi leaving the country in the near future. As a result of this decision, Oppenheim refused to attend the inauguration ceremony, which was attended by the ambassadors of the European Union and the ambassadors of a number of countries and the UN envoy.”
