State television in Yemen reported that outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh has left the country and is headed to the United States to receive treatment for wounds he suffered last June during a bomb attack on his presidential palace, according to CNN.

Saleh asked for his country’s pardon in a televised speech on Sunday before leaving the country.

"I ask for forgiveness from all my people, men and women, for any shortcomings during my 33-year-long rule," he said.

Saleh’s announcement came one day after Yemen’s parliament passed a law that would grant him complete immunity from prosecution if he decided to leave power, according to the New York Times. Parliament also approved Vice President Abdel Rabbo Mansour Hadi as the consensus candidate for February elections.

"It is unclear when he will go to the U.S., but the U.S. is his ultimate destination," said one Yemeni government official, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Saleh was quoted by Yemeni state media as saying that he intended to maintain a position of power as the president of his ruling party, the General People’s Congress, according to the Huffington Post.

The Yemeni capital of Sanaa saw continued protest activity on Sunday from demonstrators against the immunity law, according to the BBC. Some protesters wanted to see Saleh prosecuted for his suppression of anti-government uprisings that has led to hundreds of deaths.

"It is our duty... to execute the butcher,” chanted protesters in Change Square, the site of the yearlong democracy movement.

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