On April 23, 2010, former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to step down from power after a 32-year reign as the nation's leader in exchange for immunity from prosecution for alleged human rights abuses. The announcement came after months of protest in Yemen and less than a month after Amnesty International (AI) released a report [PDF] urging the international community to pressure Yemeni authorities to investigate the deaths of protesters. However, Saleh's departure has not ended the human rights controversy in Yemen. In April 2011, the US Department of State also released the 2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which reported ongoing extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, police and military abuses and restrictions on freedom of expression in Yemen. And in February 2012 the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) sent a letter to US official urging further investigations into Saleh, who has been in the US since January 2012 receiving medical treatment under a state of diplomatic immunity.

Flag of Yemen

Learn more about Yemen and Ali Abdullah Saleh from the JURIST news archive.

Also on This Day at Law:


North Dakota legislature approved conditional abortion ban
Kenyan prosecutors charged suspected Somali pirates