Journalist Salah Al-Qaedi was released from Houthi custody on Thursday in Sana’a five years after he was first arrested.

The release comes one month after the Houthi-controlled Specialized Criminal Court initially ordered his release. Nearly two weeks later, on April 11, Al-Qaedi and five other journalists were sentenced to prison. Al-Qaedi was given a five-year sentence. The same day, the court condemned four journalists to death for spying.

Al-Qaedi, who works for the Suhail satellite channel, was accused along with his colleagues of practicing media activities that served the “aggression” countries, referring to the Saudi-led coalition.

In a report last year, Amnesty International denounced the continued detention of the journalists.

“The 10 journalists have been held since the summer of 2015 and are being prosecuted on trumped-up spying charges for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression,” the Amnesty report said. “Over the course of their detention the men have been forcibly disappeared, held in intermittent incommunicado detention, been deprived of access to medical care and suffered torture and other ill-treatment.”

Rights groups across the world decried the death and prison sentences and have called on the group to reverse their decision.