SANAA, 14 May 2005 — President Ali Abdullah Saleh has agreed to pardon Shiite scholar Badruddin Al-Houthi and others accused of leading last month’s anti-government rebellion in northern Yemen, official sources said yesterday.
Government officials told Arab News that Saleh met on Thursday with tribal dignitaries who handed him a letter from Al-Houthi, in which he asked for pardon and agreed to halt fighting in the northwestern Saada province.
The officials said Saleh gave the tribal leaders a positive response and asked them to continue their mediation efforts. They said Saleh would officially announce the pardon today at a meeting with senior ulema, MPs and members of the consultative council.
Al-Houthi’s call for pardon came after the authorities claimed they had put down the revolt that left some 280 people dead on both sides.
Presidential sources quoted the letter as saying that the rebels were surprised by the launch of the assault in April, which they described as “unjustifiable ... as we have never denied the presidential authority.”
“As citizens, we ask you to bring to an end the injustice committed against us. If this is done, we are prepared to present ourselves (to the authorities) at any moment,” the letter said.
The presidential sources said that Saleh had “agreed to end action against these elements so that they can go back to their region in safety and renounce their sins.”
Authorities announced last month that they had put down the uprising in Saada but that leaders of the “sedition” were still on the run.
The fighting last month followed another uprising led by Al-Houthi’s son, Hussein, a radical preacher killed by the army last September after leading a three-month revolt in which more than 400 people were killed.
