Yemen ex-Strongman Saleh Has Medical Tests

Yemen's longtime strongman, who resigned in February in the face of a bloody year-long uprising against his rule, has undergone "routine" tests and "minor operations," his party announced on Monday.

Saleh "was admitted to a hospital run by the Republican Guard (elite troops under the command of his son Ahmed) for routine tests on Sunday, and has left the facility," General People's Congress deputy secretary general Sultan al-Barakani told Agence France Presse.

The GPC's website almotamar.net said Saleh "was admitted to hospital for routine tests and minor operations."

The veteran president, in power in Sanaa since 1978, stepped down in February, handing power to his deputy Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi in accordance with a hard-won transfer of power deal brokered by impoverished Yemen's wealthy Gulf Arab neighbors.

Saleh's critics accuse him of seeking to undermine the accord. Significant parts of the security forces remain under the command of his relatives.

During the uprising against his rule that began in January last year, Saleh was wounded in a bomb attack in the presidential palace in Sanaa in June.

He was hospitalized in Saudi Arabia and in January received medical treatment in the United States.

Saleh stepped down after being given a controversial promise of immunity from prosecution. He remains leader of the GPC and his supporters have not ruled out his standing in presidential elections set for 2014.