As Yemen is once again enthralled in a never-ending cycle of violence which led to the deaths of several dozens of protesters, including women and children nationwide, human rights groups are now condemning any power-transfer deal which would include an immunity clause for president Saleh, his family and close aides.
Rupert Colville, a spokesman of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated in his latest address to the press that international law clearly enounced that no immunity could befall a person facing war-crimes charges.
And since many Yemeni activists, most particularly Tawakkul Karman the 2011 Nobel Peace prize laureate, have every intention of dragging him to the ICC for crimes against humanity and war-crimes, the matter of his immunity could be put in jeopardy.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the reported killing of a number of largely peaceful protesters in Sanaa and Tiez as a result of the indiscriminate use of force by Yemeni security forces since Saturday,” said Rupert Colville.
“We are extremely concerned that security forces continue to use excessive force in a climate of complete impunity for crimes resulting in heavy loss of life and injury, despite repeated pledges by the government to the contrary,” he added.
Pressure is mounting against the ailing autocrat as the UN Security Council is set to be discussing the Yemen files in the next coming days, following a push of the United Kingdom, Germany and France as well as the United States of America, a once upon a time staunched ally of Saleh.
However, it seems that president Saleh's latest claims that al-Islah, an Islamic political opposing party is using the revolution to serve its own presidential ambitions, having no intention of building a more democratic Yemen, are gaining ground with the population, as many Yemenis are starting to realize that al-Islah is not a viable replacement to Ali Abdullah Saleh and that some of the so-called "crimes" of the regime could have been staged by defected General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, in a bid to discredit Saleh.