Yemenis renew call for Saleh trial

People in Yemen have held fresh rallies demanding the trial of deposed ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh and his aides, as well as their removal from power, Press TV reports.

Yemenis took to the streets on Friday in yet another show of anger against the US and Saudi-backed dictator who was forces to give up his decades-long rule in the aftermath of a popular revolution.

The revolutionaries want Saleh and his affiliates tried and prosecuted for a deadly crackdown on anti-regime protests that erupted in the impoverished Arab nation in late January 2011.

The Yemeni public has been holding regular rallies across the country to bring the men to justice since Saleh stepped down under a power-sharing deal signed by rival parties late last year.

The deal brokered by the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council gave Saleh and his associates immunity from prosecution in return for an immediate handover of power.

The deal, directly backed by the US and Saudi Arabia, also kept the powerful military under the control of the outgoing dictator’s relatives and granted half of the cabinet posts to his aides.

The deal also transferred power to Saleh’s first deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Hadi, UK-trained field marshal, later became president in a single-candidate election held under the PGCC deal.