Ex-president fugitive, with no legitimacy: Yemen's Ansarullah

Iran Press TV

Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:57PM

Ansarullah fighters of Yemen's Shia Houthi movement say the country's former president has lost his legitimacy and is now being sought as a fugitive.

The revolutionaries said in a Tuesday statement that the Revolutionary Committee is monitoring the "suspicious" moves of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, adding that he has lost "his legitimacy to act as president of" the Arabian Peninsula country.

Hadi, who escaped the capital city of Sana'a earlier this month, is "wanted for justice" for harming Yemen's national interests, the Houthis said.

The revolutionaries added that Hadi's "reckless and erratic actions harmed the Yemeni people, its security, stability, economy and life," urging the world community to regard Hadi a fugitive from justice.

Hadi and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah's cabinet resigned on January 22, after Ansarullah fighters seized the presidential palace in the capital. The parliament, however, rejected Hadi's resignation.

The former Yemeni president escaped house arrest in Sana'a and fled to the southern city of Aden on February 21.

Earlier on Tuesday, Yemeni media reported that he has sent a letter to the parliament on Monday, withdrawing his resignation.

Hadi has met with several tribal and provincial figures in Aden to garner support against Ansarullah fighters, who took control of the capital following the failure of the Yemeni government to provide security and properly run the affairs of the country.

The Houthi movement played a key role in the popular 2011 revolution that forced the country's former dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to quit after 33 years in power.

MR/MKA/SS