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Tawwakol Karman

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Commentator

The Resume

    (February 7, 1979- )
    Born in Shara’b As Salam, Yemen
    Journalist and human rights advocate
    Co-founder of Women Journalists Without Chains (2005)
    Organized weekly protests calling for freedom of the press and the release of political prisoners (2007)
    During the ‘Arab Spring’ expanded protests to call for the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh (2011)
    Co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (2011)
    Went into exile after the capital of Sana’a was occupied by Houthi rebels (2015)
    Granted Turkish citizenship
    Appointed to Facebook’s content oversight board (2020)

Why she might be annoying:

    Some student Arab Spring leaders accused her of hijacking their movement in a bid for power.
    She ignored other organizers and called on protesters to march to the Presidential palace. Thirteen people were killed when security forces opened fire on the demonstrators (May 13, 2011).
    Her brother Tariq called on her to apologize for her role in ‘the destruction of the homeland.’
    She went from supporting protests against Egyptian President Mohamad Morsi to calling him ‘the Nelson Mandela of the Arab world’ after he was deposed in a military coup.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was arrested several times for protesting.
    She campaigned to end child marriages in Yemen.
    During a demonstration, a woman attempted to stab her with a dagger, but her supporters stopped the attack (2010).
    She has denounced the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and American drone attacks in Yemen.
    She was the target of a phone hacking operation by the government of the United Arab Emirates (2019).
    She said, ‘We have been marginalized for a long time, and now is the time for women to stand up and become active without needing to ask for permission or acceptance.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 21 Votes: 9.52% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 87.50% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying