Yemeni President Orders Release of Over 100 Detainees

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Yemen’s President Abdrabu Mansour Hadi recently ordered the release of all those arrested in connection with last year’s upheaval and an investigation into human rights violations that occurred in 2011.  Over one hundred young people are currently being held in connection with the popular uprising, the Human Rights Minister Houria Mashour said Monday. Recent demonstration, staged by youth-led protesters, have demanded the release of the prisoners, who are being held in national security prisons.

According to the Yemen Post, Yemen’s Foreign Minsitry has summoned Iranian diplomats to the capital in Sana’a, informing them that they have 72 hours to leave the country. Yemen reportedly plans to summon its ambassador in Tehran to discuss a potential Iranian spy ring operating in the country for the last seven years. However, the Iranian embassy has denied that its diplomats have been expelled, and said that allegations of an intelligence cell at work in Yemen are unfounded. For its part, Yemen denied reports of Russian mediation to resolve the tensions. The Emirati al-Khaleej newspaper said that Yemen has not requested any mediation and that it only accepts mediations if they are on the base of ending all Iranian meddling entirely.

Meanwhile,  Yemeni diplomat, Rasheed Mohammad Al-Qadasi, was killed in the Syrian capital of Damascus. According to Al-Shara’a, an armed group attacked him in his home as they were attempting to steal his car. The incident comes amid criticism leveled at the Yemeni Embassy to Syria for its poor record dealing with Yemenis residing in in the country, particularly students.