Tawakkul Karman, who was awarded in October the 2011 Peace Nobel Prize for her activism in Yemen, visited the Dearborn Center in Michigan where she addressed a cheering crowd of Yemeni-American who came to show their appreciation of her work. Dearborn, Michigan, is home to the biggest community of Yemeni-Americans in the United States. For the past few weeks, Karman has been touring the US and Europe trying to raise awareness to the plight of Yemeni men and women as President Ali Abdallah Saleh is still refusing to step down from power. She on many occasions called on the West to freeze the autocrat's assets and to annul any immunity clause from any power-transfer deal as she argued that Saleh needed to be taken to the International Criminal Court for his countless crimes against humanity. She opened up her address by declaring: “He doesn't rule the country, he only kills,” in reference to President Saleh. The packed auditorium exploded in agreement, chanting with Karman: “The people want the overthrow of the regime.” The activist criticized what she saw as a lack of support from the international community towards Yemen, stressing that more needed to be done in Yemen. Defiant, she raised a key above her head decrying that: “With this key, we will open the door of darkness.” BM
