Al Mukalla: Local security authorities in Yemen’s southern city of Taiz have allowed a delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit prisons and meet incarcerated Al Houthi fighters in a bid to refute torture and abuse allegations.

Colonel Abdullah Al Bahar, the deputy spokesperson of the Supreme Military Council in Taiz, told Gulf News on Wednesday that chief of ICRC, Peter Maurer, and his team were given access to prisons where Al Houthi fighters are held.

“We have nothing to hide. The prisoners are mostly children who were captured on the battlefield. We treat them decently and we challenge Al Houthis also allow the international delegation to visit prisoners in their jails,” Al Bahar said.

Maurer described the Yemeni government decision as “a promising step” and urged Al Houthis to follow suit by allowing his team to visit prisons in Sana’a and other militia-held areas.

“We were allowed to visit detainees in Taiz for the first time. Now we need all parties to agree to regular visits,” Maurer said on his official twitter feed.

Maurer, who visited Yemen’s city of Taiz on Monday, said that humanitarian situation in the besieged city is “miserable and catastrophic” due to the raging war and heavy Al Houthi shelling, the state-run Saba news agency reported.

Speaking at a press conference in the war-ravaged city on Monday afternoon, Maurer said he saw first-hand the effects of the war and bombardment of health facilities and the ICRC decided to double its humanitarian efforts to face the outbreak of cholera and the grave health conditions in Taiz and other war-torn areas.

During his visit, local government officials in the city urged the international community to mount pressure on Al Houthi militants to lift their siege on Taiz, Yemen’s third largest city, and stop their arbitrary shelling on residential areas that claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians since early 2015.

Aref Jamel, the deputy governor of Taiz province, was quoted by Saba news agency as saying the International Red Cross delegation visited local hospitals and some districts that were greatly affected by Al Houthi shelling.

“We hope that they will inform the international community about the pain and suffering of the people in Taiz caused by the targeting of civilians by Al Houthis.”

The official said that the Al Houthi siege has starved the city and blocked vital humanitarian and food aid from reaching hospitals and residents.

Meanwhile in the port city of Aden, the base of Yemen president’s government, the prime minister, Ahmad Obeid Bin Daghar, has said that Al Houthi militants have arrested more than 3,000 people across Yemen since the early days of their coup against the internationally-recognised president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi in late 2014.

The fate of the prisoners continue to be unknown.

At a meeting with the chief of ICRC on Sunday, Bin Daghar submitted a file containing the names of the abducted and the state of their imprisonment inside Al Houthi detention centres.

Bin Daghar said that his government is not opposed to the swapping of political prisoners, activists and other detainees captured on battlefields.

On Monday, Bin Daghar also reiterated his demand to international aid organisations to relocate their offices to the port city of Aden, promising to facilitate their mission in Yemen.

Speaking to the executive directors of the World Health Organisation, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme who visited the southern province of Aden, Bin Daghar said his government has paid government salaries to all provinces including those under Al Houthi control.