JEDDAH, 21 August 2005 — Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for his decision to release 1,200 Yemenis imprisoned in the Kingdom on various charges, press reports said yesterday.
The royal gesture “reflects the depth and solidity of the brotherly relations” between the two neighboring countries, Yemen’s Saba news agency quoted President Saleh as saying.
Yemeni Ambassador Khaled Al-Akoue said procedures for the deportation of the prisoners would be completed within a few days.
Maj. Gen. Ali Al-Harithy, director general of prisons, said the amnesty declared by King Abdullah covered a large number of prisoners including Saudis, Yemenis and other expatriates.
King Abdullah, who came to power earlier this month after the death of King Fahd, has already pardoned five Saudi activists as well as five Libyans implicated in a plot to assassinate him while he was crown prince.
According to a source in the Yemeni Ministry of Emigrant Affairs, the king’s decision was communicated to officials in Sanaa Thursday.
Sanaa and Riyadh have steadily been forging closer ties since signing an agreement in June 2000 which ended a decades-long territorial dispute.
Some 700,000 Yemeni citizens live in Saudi Arabia.
