Saudi Arabia pushed Yemen’s president to step down earlier this month, report claims

Saudi Arabia pushed Yemen’s president to step down earlier this month, and officials have confined him to his home and restricted his communications, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi announced his resignation on April 7, handing his powers to a new leadership council as Yemen entered into a fragile ceasefire that brought a rare pause in the years-long conflict.

Citing anonymous Saudi and Yemeni officials, the Journal said that Riyadh’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gave Hadi a written decree delegating his powers to the council, which consists of eight representatives of different Yemeni groups.

According to the officials, some Saudi officials had threatened to publicise what they said was evidence of Hadi’s corruption in their efforts to convince him to step down, the Journal wrote.

Since leaving office, Hadi has been confined to his house in Riyadh and denied access to phones, one Saudi official told the Journal.