19. Dec 2011

'You have inspired me, Mansur!'

Kari Klyve-Gulbrandsen (from Stavanger Aftenblad) Mansur Rajih (left), his wife Afrah Mohamed Ghalion and Tawakkol Karman.
Kari Klyve-Gulbrandsen (from Stavanger Aftenblad) Mansur Rajih (left), his wife Afrah Mohamed Ghalion and Tawakkol Karman.

Yemeni activist and journalist Tawakkol Karman captured the hearts and minds of a global audience last weekend, when she was in Oslo receiving the Nobel Peace Prize Award together with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leyma Gbowee.

During her stay in the Norwegian Capital, Ms. Karman also got the opportunity to meet with her long time companion and inspirator in the fight for democracy and human rights in Yemen, the ICORN guest writer Mansur Rajih.

"I have met the heart of the revolution", Mr. Rajih said to the press (Stavanger Aftenblad) on Sunday night after the moving encounter with the Nobel Laureate. "She saluted me for preparing the ground for the revolution through my poetry", Rajih continues, "which she has been able to follow via internet as a constant source of guidance and inspiration."

The Yemeni ex-diplomat, editor and politician Abdulla Salam Al-Hakimi confirms the important role of Mansur Rajih for the revolution in Yemen:

"He is not only a poet, but also an intellectual with a political message. The story about his survival of 15 years imprisonment is well known to the present peaceful revolutionaries. Nobel Laureate Tawakkol Karman knows and acknowledges Mansur's writing and believes strongly in his fight for human rights and freedom".