SAN’A, Yemen: A Yemeni opposition member shot in the head after returning from 32 years in exile died Wednesday from his wounds, his son said.
Abdel-Raqib Al-Qershi fled from Yemen in 1978 after he and his family were accused of leading a rebellion against the government and killing tribal leaders.
Yemen at the time was divided into two warring states that often carried out assassination campaigns against each other’s tribal leaders.
Al-Qershi’s son, Awad, said his father had returned to San’a in May following an offer of amnesty from the country’s president. A month later, he was shot in the head as he walked out of a local mosque with his sons.
The authorities named three suspects in the assassination attempt, but none have been arrested.
After an emergency operation in Yemen, Al-Qershi was flown to Syria for further medical treatment where he died.
His sons said he will be buried in Syria.
Yemen’s two halves unified in 1990 but the country remains riven by tensions between the north and south, separatist Shia rebels and pockets of Al-Qaeda hiding out in the hinterlands.
