CCR Welcomes U.S. Treasury Sanction of Former Yemen President, Calls for More Accountability

November 10, 2014, New York – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) welcomed the U.S. Department of the Treasury order to sanction the former President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and two military commanders affiliated with the Huthi group (or “Ansar Allah”). In 2012, CCR called for the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into grave human rights abuses committed against peaceful Yemeni protesters by security forces under Saleh’s control in 2011. More than three years later, no-one has yet been held to account.

Ibraham Qatabi, a legal worker at the Center for Constitutional Rights and a member of the Yemeni American community said, “As a Yemeni American, I welcome the decision to sanction Saleh and call on the international community to continue to take steps, including criminal investigations, asset freezes and travel bans, in order to ensure that the perpetrators of serious abuses are held accountable for their actions. Yemen’s democratic transition is imperiled by continued rampant impunity.”

The Center for Constitutional Rights works with communities under threat to fight for justice and liberation through litigation, advocacy, and strategic communications. Since 1966, the Center for Constitutional Rights has taken on oppressive systems of power, including structural racism, gender oppression, economic inequity, and governmental overreach. Learn more at ccrjustice.org.

 

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November 10, 2014