Parliament rejects joining International Criminal Court [Archives:2007/1040/Local News]

SANA'A, April 8 ) At its session on Saturday, Yemen's Parliament rejected procedures taken to join the International Criminal Court, as well as the March 24 agreement on the court's Rome Statute.

The invalidation resolution occurred after more than 80 members of Parliament requested balloting, which more than 100 MPs approved.

There was disparity and clamor between MPs, within parliamentary blocs and internal parliamentary committees when the statute was put on the ballot. Some MPs spoke about foreign involvement and acted for the first time outside of their partisan affiliation.

Last month, Parliament voted to join the Rome Statute; however, such vote was considered invalid at Saturday's session because it violated internal parliamentary bylaws.

Thirty-four MPs voted to join the agreement, while 23 voted against it at the first session; however, 50 members voted for it and 80 members rejected it at the second session.
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