The Gulf Centre for Human Rights congratulates journalist and activist Tawakkol Karman, head of Women Journalists Without Chains, on the occasion of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 in conjunction with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her compatriot Leymah Bbowee who mobilized women against the Liberian civil war.

“The allocation of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 to activist Tawakkol Karman is not only a tribute to her reliable hard work in the field of human rights but is also honoring all the activists who contributed and still contribute to the success of peaceful Arab spring revolutions,” said Nabeel Rajab, the Executive Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights.

Activist Tawakkol Karman said after receiving the award “I feel so happy. This is a victory for peace in the Arab world and our peaceful revolution. I think that the prize is for all Yemeni people and all the women in Yemen and the Arab world”. She dedicated the Nobel Peace Prize won by Friday “to all activists of the Arab spring and activists stationed in the streets of Yemen.” Activist Tawakkol Karman was born in Taiz city on 7 February 1979.

She is a writer, journalist, activist and head of Women Journalists Without Chains, and before that literary writer and poet. She is one of the most prominent defenders of press freedom and women’s rights and human rights in Yemen. Her father is the politician and lawyer, Abdel-Salam Khaled Karman. Tawakkol Karman is a member of the Shura Council of the Yemeni Congregation for Reform.