Friday, March 25, 2011

Tawakul Karman, a Yemeni activist, provides thorn in side for Saleh


Tawakul Karman, a Yemeni activist, provides thorn in side for Saleh 32-year-old mother of three has faced death threats and prison, but devotion to cause has earned international acclaim

Tom Finn in Sana'a
guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 March 2011

"Tawakul Karman, a 32-year-old mother of three, may seem an unlikely leader of the fight to overthrow the president of Yemen.

But the outspoken journalist and human rights activist has long been a thorn in Ali Abdullah Saleh's side, agitating for press freedoms and staging weekly sit-ins to demand the release of political prisoners from jail a place she has been several times herself.

Now inspired by the uprising in Tunisia and the resignation of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, she finds herself at the head of a popular protest movement which is shaking the Yemeni regime to its core....

Karman smiles when asked if she would consider running for president once Saleh stepped down.

"My aim for now is to lead a peaceful revolution to remove this regime," she says. "I think if I can be in the street with the people I can achieve more than if I am the president.""

No comments: