President Ali Abdullah Saleh

YEMEN. PRESIDENT PUTS EXECUTION OF JUVENILE ON HOLD

April 6, 2005: President Salih stopped the execution of Hafiz Ibrahim in Taiz, Yemen, at the last moment. Ibrahim, 17, was convicted in 2004 of killing a man and was due to be executed the day the president intervened. The order of the president, who is the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, came so as to give the authorities chance to convince the relatives of the killed man to accept reconciliation. Amnesty International had pleaded with President Salih to commute the death sentence, arguing that the Yemeni law banned the execution of juveniles under 18. (Sources: Saba via BBC Monitoring Middle East, 07/04/2005)