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Nobel winner calls for end to violent crackdown in Yemen

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Summary of story from AFP, October 19, 2011

Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkul Karman has called on the United Nations (UN) to act to halt her government’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

Speaking to about 100 fellow protesters outside the United Nations building in New York Ms Karman said that Yemen president Ali Abdullah Saleh and Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad are “criminals” and should be held to account.

“People are living on sidewalks and are being killed everyday… All because they asked for democracy and justice,” she said.

She will hand a letter calling for the United Nations to take immediate action to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon later today.

At least 861 people have been killed and 25,000 wounded since protests first started in January, according to young people in Yemen who wrote to the UN earlier this month.

Ms Karman has also called on the International Criminal Court to investigate the actions of the Yemeni government.

The violent crackdown by government troops has not deterred  thousands of pro-democracy activists from camping out in the capital’s Change Square for months and protests against Saleh have continued across the country.

At least seven protesters were reportedly killed and dozens wounded just yesterday as gunmen opened fire on demonstrators in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a.

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