Yemen arrests female activist in student protest

Islamist student leader inspired by ousting of Tunisia's president led demonstrations at university

msnbc.com news services

SANAA — Yemen has arrested a woman activist who led student protests against the government in the capital last week, a security source said on Sunday.

Yemeni students chant slogans calling on their president Ali
Abdullah Saleh to leave the government and follow Tunisian ousted
President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile during a protest in
Sanaa on Saturday. (Hani Mohammed / AP)

Inspired by the ousting of Tunisia's president a week ago, Tawakul Karman led two protests at Sanaa University, criticizing autocratic Arab leaders and calling on Yemenis to topple President Ali Abdullah Saleh by using text messages and emails.

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The source said Karman, a member of the Islamist party Islah, was arrested on Sunday by order of the General Prosecution Office.

Karman, who heads the Yemeni activist group Women Journalists Without Chains, also called on Yemenis to support the Tunisian people.

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The protests in Yemen appeared to be the first of their kind. The nation's 23 million citizens have many grievances: they are the poorest people in the Arab world, the government is widely seen as corrupt and is reviled for its alliance with the United States in fighting al-Qaida, there are few political freedoms and the country is rapidly running out of water.

More than 40 percent of Yemen's 23 million people live on under $2 a day and almost a third suffer from chronic hunger.

'Join your friend Ben Ali'

Still, calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down had been a red line that few dissenters dared to test.

In a reflection of the tight grip Saleh's government and its forces have in the capital — outside the city, that control thins dramatically — Saturday's demonstration did not take place in the streets, but was confined to the grounds of the University of Sanaa.

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Around 2,500 students, activists and opposition groups gathered there and chanted slogans against the president, comparing him to Tunisia's ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, whose people were similarly enraged by economic woes and government corruption.

"Get out get out, Ali. Join your friend Ben Ali," the crowds chanted.

One of the organizers, Fouad Dahaba, said the demonstration was only a beginning and they will not stop until their demands are met.

"We will march the streets of Sanaa, to the heart of Sanaa and to the presidential palace. The coming days will witness an escalation," said Dahaba, an Islamist lawmaker and head of the teachers' union.

Making good on that pledge will be difficult. Like other entrenched regimes in the Arab world, Yemen's government shows little tolerance for dissent and the security forces — bolstered by U.S. military aid intended for fighting the country's virulent al-Qaida offshoot — are quick to crack down.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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