Yemeni Nobel laureate: Saleh is a war criminal

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Yemeni activist and co-winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize Tawakkul Karman has said that Ali Abdullah Saleh should be tried as a war criminal.

“We need more action. We want you to freeze the assets of Saleh and his people and that action is taken at the International Criminal Court as he is a war criminal,” Karman was quoted as saying on Tuesday by the independent Yemen Post.

She made the remarks after a meeting with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Monday at the Quai d'Orsay ministry building in Paris.

In response, Juppe said the European Union would be in a better position on Yemen if Saleh's opponents were more united. However, the EU is committed to finding a solution for the Yemen crisis, he added.

"I think asset freezes will be discussed as soon as possible," he said.

Before and during the pro-democracy uprising in Yemen, Karman, who shared the 2011 Nobel Prize with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, played a key role in the campaigns for women's rights and democracy in Yemen.

The Nobel laureate and tens of thousands of other pro-democracy activists have camped out in Sana'a's Change Square for months.

The demonstrators are calling for an end to corruption and unemployment as well as demanding the ouster of Saleh.

Hundreds of protesters have been killed and many more injured in the regime's crackdown on Yemen's popular uprising.

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