Tawakkol Karman suspended from Islah party after views expressed at Warwick Economics Summit

Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman has been suspended from the Yemen Islamist party after making accusations against the President of Yemen.

The Islah party, also known as The Yemeni Congregation for Reform, are allied with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Karman accused the Saudi-led coalition that backs Hadi of acting as occupiers during the country’s civil war.

Karman spoke at the Warwick Economics Summit last Friday, and suggested that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were driven by a “reckless adventurism” when they intervened in Yemen in 2015.

Warwick Economics Summit responded to her suspension with the following statement on Facebook: “We are sorry to hear about Ms Karman’s suspension from the Islamist Party of Yemen, but we are proud to have hosted her at the Summit and to have provided a strong platform for her to voice her opinions.”

Karman was a top official of the Islah party until her public break with the coalition led the party to freeze her membership.

Karman responded to their actions with the question: “Who’s freezing whom? The vast majority of our people agree with me.”

Tawakkol Karman’s statements do not represent the Islah party and its policies, and are not in line with the party’s positions

– Islah Party

Last week, the Islah party released the following statement on their website: “Tawakkol Karman’s statements do not represent the Islah party and its policies, and are not in line with the party’s positions.”

Karman responded on her Twitter account by describing the Islah leaders as “prisoners and slaves” of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

In a second interview with Reuters yesterday, Karman suggested that the UAE and Saudi Arabia have “betrayed” Yemen through military occupation and repression of democratic change in the country.

The Islah party from which Karmen has been suspended is regarded as a “terrorist organisation” by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, according to Reuters.

Whilst Islah is commonly regarded as a branch of the Muslim brotherhood, the party has sought to distance itself from the Brotherhood in attempt to ease the UAE and other Arab states in the Persian Gulf.

In winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Karman became the first Yemeni, the first Arab woman, and the second Muslim woman Nobel Laureate, according to Democracy Now in 2011.