By NNN-SABA
Sanaa : The Yemeni Parliament speaker Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussein al-Ahmer, 74, has died at the Specialized Faisal Hospital in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
Al-Ahmar who was born in 1933 was arrested in 1950s in Hodeidah province by the ruler of Yemen Imam Ahmed and was jailed for three years until the revolution in 1962.
Sheikh al-Ahmar held several positions during his career. In May 1964 he was nominated a Minister of Interior and held that position under three sequent governments.
In 1969, he was named a head of the national council, which was tasked, with the formulation of the Yemen Arab Republic’s constitution, and in 1975 chairman of the Shoura Council till the work with the constitution was suspended.
During 1979-1990, he served as member in the Consultative council. In 1990, he was nominated a head of the Higher Preparatory Committee of the Formation of the Islah Party (Yemeni Congregation for Reform) and served as the party head until his death.
In April 1993, al-Ahmar could gain the trust of the Yemeni people to win at his constituency, and in May of the same year he was nominated the speaker of parliament, the first parliament under the united Yemen.
He was re-elected as speaker of the parliament in 1997 and 2003.
Al-Ahmar made contributions to protect the revolution, unity of Yemen and Arab interests through the posts he had held such as head of the Public Committee for Defending al-Aqsa and Palestine, head of the parliamentary committee of Palestine and Quds and member of the Trustees Council of the Islamic International Mission Organization.
Al-Ahmar was deputy of the Quds Trustees Council in Yemen, head of branch of the Quds Organization in Yemen, and head of the Public Committee for Supporting the Kuwaiti People after Iraq invasion of Kuwait
It was not clear who would succeed Ahmar as head of the Yemeni parliament or as head of the main opposition Islah (Reform) Party.