SANAA: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh yesterday ordered the immediate release of more than 200 opposition activists arrested in the past few months during a string of violent protests in several southern cities, ruling party sources said.
Riots hit several cities in southern Yemen last month demanding the release of the detained leaders.
The pardons included 10 opposition figures brought to a state security court in June and charged with instigating civil disorder and strife, sources from the General People’s Congress party told Arab News.
Among those activists were three senior members of the opposition Yemeni Socialist Party — Hassan Baoum, Yahya Al-Shouaibi and Ali Al-Gharib, they said.
The Yemeni Observatory for Human Rights, a nongovernmental rights watchdog, welcomed the move, saying in a statement that it was a “serious and responsible initiative on the way for achieving a breakthrough” in the political crisis.
“This decision shows responsible intents to open the door for a calm and crucial dialogue on various issues,” the group said.
Authorities have blamed the wave of protests on the YSP, the former ruling party in southern Yemen. At least 13 people were killed and more than 70 were injured in clashes with security forces.
In the latest and most violent series of demonstrations, thousands of disgruntled youths took to the streets in April and May over what was claimed to be discriminatory army recruiting policies against southerners.
Groups representing more than 60,000 people who had retired from army and government jobs in southern Yemen have also staged a series of protests in the past 12 months demanding more rights and better services. Most of the retirees insist they were forced out of their jobs.
Other demonstrations have been staged to denounce rising prices in Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries, and demand better public services.
Southerners often complain of discrimination since a 1994 secessionist bid was crushed by northern forces of President Saleh.
