Yemeni Tawakkul Karman, one of three women awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 7, 2011, prepares to speak to reporters at her protest tent encampment in Sanaa, following the announcement that she was a laureate.Gamal Noman/AFP/Getty Images
She is a most unlikely leader of Yemen's movement to oust Yemen's autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh from office. Tawakkul Karman, a 32-year-old mother of three, dresses in the traditional black abaya worn by most of the women in the conservative capital of Sanaa. This is a place where women walk behind their men and not even husband and wife would ever be seen even holding hands in public.
The only outward hint that Ms. Karman is different is in the colourful head scarves she always wears to complement her black outfit.
But make no mistake, Tawakkul Karman, the person who almost single-handedly launched Yemen's protest movement at the start of the year is very different, very influential and, yes, even very religious.
Ms. Karman is more than a student activist, though she has filled the ranks of the protest movement with just such people, most of them camped for months in the streets outside the university. She is a member of the Islah Party, the largest opposition party and one oriented toward religion. All of which makes her unusual in a largely secular, overwhelmingly male movement.
Sitting with her in her office in Sanaa in March this year, Ms. Karman told me that men respect her. "When I was in prison in January, the whole country rose to protest against the authorities," she said.
That wasn't her first time in jail.
Ms. Karman has been actively campaigning for human rights for several years. Chair of Women Journalists Without Chains, a lot of her efforts have been on behalf of independent publications and individual journalists.
Since 2007, she staged a weekly protest at downtown Sanaa's Tahrir (Liberation) Square, demonstrating for freedom of the press and human rights in general.
She was active in campaigning for legislation to prevent young girls from being married off, and championed the cause of Nujood al-Ahdal, a Yemeni girl who was married at 9 and fought for the right to divorce at 12.
Four years ago, she wrote an article that, for the first time, called for Mr. Saleh to step down.
"I realized that most of the problems in the country were a result of him being President," she said.
Her early protests sometimes drew only a handful of people, she said, "but I told people, 'just wait and see, we'll get stronger.' "
And they did. Tens of thousands turn out now for the daily anti-Saleh protest in Sanaa, with even larger crowds now demonstrating in the more populous southern city of Taiz, and thousands more in several other communities across the country.
The demonstrations have not been without risk. Hundreds of protesters have been killed and thousands injured in the nation-wide campaign.
Besides being clapped in jail, Ms. Karman has had her share of bangs and bruises from various thugs trying to discourage her efforts.
Earlier this year, her brother delivered a warning that her life was in danger if she continued her protests. The warning came from the President, Ms. Karman said.
"I really believe that when Saleh steps down, he will have someone kill me," she said.
Despite all that, Ms. Karman adheres to the belief that nonviolence is the best means to a successful revolution. Pictures of her three heroes - Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi - hang on the wall of her radio studio/sitting room.
She and her colleagues watched the Tunisia uprising with interest, then held their first big demonstration.
"After they [the protesters]won in Egypt," she said, "I knew we would win, too."
But how can they win, considering that it was the army in both those earlier cases that pushed the president out the door?
Not all members of the army will oppose her movement, she said. "Libya showed that many in the military are prepared to desert their dictator.
"And in Yemen, we don't have one army; we have several, and a lot of them will come to us," she said, particularly those affiliated with tribes that support them already.
The little movement that grew has attracted major opposition parties, some tribal leaders and people in the south who were campaigning for separation.
"We convinced them to change their priorities and join us. After the regime is gone we can discuss their situation. If they still want to separate, that's their right," she said. "I think they'll change their mind."
"This revolution isn't just about Ali Abdullah Saleh," she said. "It's a social revolution, too."