Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights advocate Tawakkol Karman on Tuesday welcomed a landmark prisoner exchange agreement between the internationally recognized Yemeni government and the Houthi militia, describing the deal as a critical step toward achieving comprehensive and lasting peace in Yemen.

The agreement, reached in the Omani capital Muscat after nearly two weeks of negotiations facilitated by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, provides for the release of approximately 2,900 prisoners and detainees from all sides of the conflict.

Under the terms of the deal, the Yemeni government will free 1,700 detainees held by the Houthis, while the Houthi militia will release 1,200 detainees in its custody, including seven Saudi nationals and 23 Sudanese citizens. The exchange also includes the release of prominent Yemeni politician Mohammed Qahtan, who had been forcibly disappeared for about a decade.

In a statement posted on her official Facebook page, Karman paid tribute to Qahtan and to all those who had been forcibly disappeared, describing the agreement as a long-awaited humanitarian breakthrough. She said the exchange represented a first step toward building a unified peace process anchored in the creation of a single, independent, free, and sovereign Yemeni state.

Observers say the agreement marks one of the most significant confidence-building measures in Yemen’s protracted conflict, offering renewed hope for progress on the broader political track.