Saleh entitled to immunity in U.S. during visit: State Department

The outgoing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled Yemen for over 30 years, will be entitled to diplomatic immunity when he seeks medical treatment in the United States, State Department said on Wednesday. "Ali Abdullah Saleh is still the President of Yemen and will be accorded those privileges and immunities accorded to any head of state until a new Yemeni president is sworn in following elections on February 21," said a statement released by the department, Xinhua reported. Saleh, who was severely injured in a deadly bomb attack against his presidential palace in June last year, has left Yemen on Sunday evening and is expected to arrive in New York later this week for medical treatment. Under a deal signed by Saleh and Yemen's opposition in Nov. last year with a view to ending 11 months of protests in the country demanding his ouster, Saleh should give up power in return for immunity from prosecution. At the end of last year, violence escalated in Yemen after the opposition launched massive protests, demanding Saleh's prosecution. Saleh's deputy Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi formed an opposition-led coalition government in Dec., and called for presidential elections on Feb. 21. The Yemeni parliament passed a law granting Saleh a complete immunity one day before he began his travel. The State Department said on Monday that Washington believed that the absence of Saleh will facilitate the transition process in Yemen. The impoverished Arab country has been in the grip of months long political crisis triggered by mass protests demanding ouster of Saleh. About 2,000 people have been killed and thousands of others injured since the protests began in late January.