AFP - The authorities in Yemen on Friday freed the head of the supreme council of the Southern Movement who was arrested a month ago with several other activists, a security official told AFP.
"We received instructions from the highest level to free Mr (Hassan) Baoum and three other detainees, including his son Fawaz" after they were detained in central Yemen, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Another of Baoum's sons, Fadi, confirmed the release, saying: "I have spoken to my father by phone, who said he and the other three were at the home of the Ibb prison's chief for dinner" and that they had been freed.
Baoum and five others were arrested on November 9 at an army checkpoint, an official said at the time, adding that the opposition leader was "planning to hold unauthorised protests in a number of southern provinces."
Two of those arrested with Baoum at the checkpoint outside the town of Daleh were freed two weeks ago after tribal mediation.
Their arrests came ahead of the 20th Gulf Cup football tournament staged between November 22 and December 5 in south Yemen, a scene of regular unrest blamed by the authorities on both southern secessionists and Al-Qaeda.
"My father presented no threat to the tournament. We engage in purely peaceful political activity," Fadi Baoum said.
Baoum's arrest sparked a wave of protests across south Yemen, which was independent until 1990, with protesters clashing with soldiers in Daleh. Five people were injured, including two soldiers.
Many residents of south Yemen, which was independent from 1967 when the British withdrew until it was united with the north in 1990, complain of discrimination by the Sanaa government in the distribution of resources.
The south seceded in 1994, sparking a brief civil war that ended with the region overrun by northern troops.
Baoum heads the supreme council of the Southern Movement whose members want either independence or increased autonomy. Many southerners complain of discrimination by Sanaa in the distribution of resources.
The region has also witnessed growing violence by Al-Qaeda, which has found safe haven in the south and east of Yemen, Osama bin Laden's ancestral homeland.
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