SANAA - Yemen has released 627 rebels from the minority Zaidi community held on charges of involvement in clashes with government forces which left hundreds dead, officials said Friday.
All 627 detainees held in connection with the rebellion of radical preacher Hussein Badr Eddin al-Huthi were freed in compliance with an amnesty granted by President Ali Abdullah Saleh last September, said a joint statement from the ministers of interior and defense and the heads of security agencies.
The pardon excludes 36 suspected rebels on trial on charges of mounting a series of attacks on security forces in the capital Sanaa last year in which one soldier was killed and 27 people were wounded. They are also accused of plotting to kill the president.
Hussein Badr Eddin al-Huthi was killed by the army in September 2004 after leading a nearly three-month uprising in the northwestern Saada province in which more than 400 people were killed.
His father, Badr Eddin al-Huthi, is considered the spiritual leader of his Faithful Youth movement and was accused by authorities of leading a second revolt in March-April last year in which hundreds more died.
Fifteen rebels and five army soldiers were killed in fresh clashes in Saada province last month.
The Zaidis are an offshoot of Shiite Islam and are dominant in northwestern Yemen, but form a minority in the mainly Sunni country.
President Saleh has accused Zaidi rebels of seeking to overthrow his republican regime.
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