DUBAI (Reuters) - The party of former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh named a new leader on Sunday after he was killed last month by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement his one-time allies in the country’s civil war. “Al Houthis’ attempts to hijack the party in Sana’a through [pushing the party’s] hostages and prisoners to legitimise their crimes and pass their policies do not reflect the party’s unchanged nationalist principles and the speech of its founder before his martyrdom by Al Houthis.” the statement said. In a statement carried by the Saba news agency, the party’s members, who live in government-controlled areas or abroad, said that Al Houthis have released senior members of the party, who have been under house arrest since Saleh’s killing, and forced them to meet in Sana’a to select a new leader to the party and issuing a statement backing Al Houthis and criticising the Saudi-led coalition.
Sadeq Ameen Abu Rass, not Saleh's son Ahmed, is named as the successor to late Ali Abdullah Saleh as leader of the General People’s Congress party.