Saudi authorities have arrested a leader of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), after he had announced performing the Islamic pilgrimage of Umrah in dedication to the soul of the recently deceased British monarch Elizabeth II, Yemen News Portal reported, citing sources.
Sources said that the Saudi police arrested a local activist and leader in STC named Malik al-Yazidi al-Yafei, and referred him to the prosecutor’s office.
The spokesman for the Mecca police confirmed that “the security authorities have arrested a Yemeni resident; He photographed himself in the Masjid al-Haram with a canvas inscribed with the words “Umrah for the soul of Queen Elizabeth II” in Arabic and English. The man was referred to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
From time to time, the STC is known for expressing support for Great Britain and claiming that it is best suited to work on its behalf, by targeting the very unity of Yemen and the existence of Yemen as a united country.
The British colonial empire occupied southern Yemen for 139 years, and enacted a brutal regime upon the people. During the so-called Aden Emergency, one of the first anti-colonial revolutions Elisabeth II faced as queen of Britain, British colonial troops carried out a bloody crackdown on the South Yemeni people, but could not prevent the country from achieving independence in 1967 and eventually uniting with North Yemen.
