Interim govt throws Saleh immunity

Yemen's outgoing dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/220041.html

Yemen's interim government has endorsed a US-backed draft law granting the country's outgoing dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh immunity from prosecution.

The draft, which was approved by the Yemeni cabinet on Sunday, also applies to anyone, who has worked with Saleh, saving them from prosecution for any crimes they have committed during his 33-year-long rule.

According to the government, Saleh and his associates "including in civilian, military and security institutions during the period of his presidency” are thereby awarded 'legal and judicial immunity.'

Yemen's parliament will now have to ratify the draft, which paves the way for Saleh's departure.

The decision is in line with a power transfer deal brokered by the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council ([P]GCC), which Saleh signed in the Saudi capital Riyadh on November 23.

The Saudi-backed deal grants him immunity from prosecution in return for his handing over the power to acting ruler Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The United States, which regarded Saleh as a pillar of its 'counter-terrorism' strategy for years, pushed through with the power transition deal, while Saudi Arabia has been supporting him by donating diesel and crude oil to the country.

The prospect of the immunity law comes as thousands of anti-regime demonstrators, calling their protest action the 'March of Dignity,' arrived from the western port city of Hudaydah to the capital Sana'a on Sunday to demand Saleh's prosecution.

The march, led by members of the north-based Yemeni Shia minority, known as Houthis, was welcomed in Sana'a by other anti-regime protesters, who also called for the trial of the outgoing Yemeni dictator.

Also, in late December 2011, tens of thousands of anti-regime protesters marched towards Sana'a from the southern city of Taizz, about 322 kilometers (200 miles) from the capital.

Yemeni demonstrators hold Saleh responsible for the killing of hundreds of protesters during the popular uprising against the regime that began in January 2011.

Protesters say the country's Republican Guards, led by Saleh's son Ahmed, are responsible for most of the deadly attacks on the anti-regime activists.

Davis has diplomatic immunity: Obama

Supporters of Pakistani religious party Jamat-e-Islami chant slogans during a rally against Raymond Davis in Lahore on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/165425.html

US President Barack Obama has urged Pakistan to free a US consulate employee who has been detained over the killing of two Pakistani citizens in Lahore.

During a press conference in Washington on Tuesday, Obama said that the US official, identified as Raymond Davis, enjoys diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention, a Press TV correspondent reported.

"If our diplomats are in another country, then they are not subject to that country's local prosecution," Obama stated. He called on Islamabad to abide by the convention and set Davis free.

Meanwhile, US Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, who arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday for talks about Davis's case, has apologized over the killings.

"US respect Pakistani courts, but Raymond's issue has nothing to do with courts as diplomats enjoy immunity under Vienna convention," Kerry told reporters in eastern Lahore city.

The United States has already stepped up pressure on Pakistan over Davis and has threatened to cut billions of dollars in military and other assistance if Islamabad does not free him.

The warning has placed the government in a dilemma, with crowds of Pakistanis expressing indignation in rallies in Lahore and demanding that Davis be brought to justice.

Davis has said he acted in self-defense in an attempted robbery, but Pakistani officials say US diplomats are not allowed to carry weapons in the country.

Fauzia Wahab, a senior member of the Pakistan People's Party, told Press TV on Monday that the US official had diplomatic immunity and should not have been arrested.

Pakistani Federal Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan has said the US should free Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, who is a Pakistani citizen, in return for the US national's release.

In 2010, Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years in prison in the US on charges of opening fire with a rifle on FBI agents and US military personnel in a police station in Ghazni, Afghanistan, where she was being interrogated, in 2008.