International Body Must Probe Yemen Situation

The UN high commissioner for human rights has expressed concerns over the ongoing Saudi air strikes against Yemen, calling for an “independent” international inquiry into rights violations in the country.

The situation in Yemen should be subjected to a “comprehensive inquiry by an international independent body,” Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said in the Swiss city of Geneva on Tuesday, according to Press TV.

Zeid’s remarks come as Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen since March 2015, with the UN putting the death toll from the military aggression at about 10,000.

 The offensive was launched to reinstate Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a Saudi ally who has resigned as Yemen’s president.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen Jamie McGoldrick said last month that the death toll from the Saudi military aggression could rise even further as some areas had no medical facilities, and that people were often buried without any official record being made.

Elsewhere, Zeid further called on Al Khalifah regime to improve the bleak situation of human rights in Bahrain.

 “The past decade has demonstrated repeatedly and with punishing clarity exactly how disastrous the outcomes can be when a government attempts to smash the voices of its people, instead of serving them,” he commented about Bahrain.

Since February 14, 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis, calling on the Al Khalifah family to relinquish power.

Troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been deployed to the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protests.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others injured or arrested in the Bahraini crackdown on the anti-regime activists.

H.M