Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has ordered an amnesty for all jailed supporters of a slain Shia rebel cleric who waged an insurgency against the state last year. Yemeni forces have killed and arrested hundreds of loyalists of Hussein al-Huthi, who led a group that wants to install Shia clerical rule and preaches violence against the United States and Israel. Some of al-Huthi's supporters are on trial. It was not clear if they would be freed under the amnesty. "We have declared an amnesty for the supporters of Hussein al-Huthi and his father who are in jail for the strife they caused," Saleh said in a speech carried by state television. "We have pardoned them despite the blood that has been spilled." |