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Ousted Yemeni president vows to see Saudis prosecuted for ‘war crimes’

September 27, 2016 at 1:09 pm

Ousted Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has vowed to prosecute the rulers of Saudi Arabia in international courts, accusing them of carrying out war crimes, Moheet.com reported on Monday.

Saleh also revealed the name of the Saudi official in charge of the Yemeni file, Prince Mohamed Bin Nayef. He said that Bin Nayef knows every single detail regarding Yemen and accused him of inciting King Salman to carry out the current “aggression” in the country.

Referring to the Saudi defence minister, Saleh said that Mohamed Bin Salman is a young man and has no hostility against Yemen. The ex-president noted that the problem is with the current Saudi ambassador to his country, who he described as a “big hypocrite” who has provided “paid-for” false reports. He claimed that the ambassador divides the money between himself and the informant who collected the false information.

Although he vowed to prosecute the Saudi rulers over what he said are “war crimes”, Saleh proposed to talk with them on condition of a halt to air strikes and the lifting of the maritime and ground siege. If the Saudis do not stop their strikes, he insisted, his rockets would target deep into Saudi territory, including military, industrial and vital facilities in the “next few days”.

Meanwhile, Saleh said that he does not recognise any government ruling his country from Riyadh. This was a reference to the government-in-exile run by President Abed Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Saleh pointed out that Hadi and his government are also wanted for war crimes.

The ousted president explained that although he fought against the Houthis, his current allies, over political or partisan differences, he has never fought against his people or misled the country. He certainly did not cooperate with foreign powers to strike his country, he said, and denied the existence of any Yemen-Iran alliance. The latter, said Saleh, is a “pretext” to wage an “oppressive” war against Yemen, adding that he refused alliances with other powers against the Houthis prior to the war and insisted only on a national agreement reconciliation.