I have known Jane Novak of Armies of Liberation for years. We regularly linked to each other and posted on terrorism back when we both were getting started with our blogs. Jane has recently been noticed as her continued fight against the oppressive regime, that currently is in charge of Yemen, has brought her attention in that country.
Her website has been banned by the Yemeni government for her fight for freedom of the people of that country and a journalist there wrongfully accused of terrorism by their government. Jane compares the atrocities in Yemen to those of Sudan. Yemen is where they USS Cole was in port when it was bombed by Al-Qaeda terrorists killing 17 of my fellow shipmates.
Below is a recent interview of Jane on NPR on why she fights and her impact there.
Also you can read this New York Times piece on Jane, just a "stay at home mom", from May 20, 2008.
Jane Novak, a 46-year-old stay-at-home mother of two in New Jersey, has never been to Yemen. She speaks no Arabic, and freely admits that until a few years ago, she knew nothing about that strife-torn south Arabian country.
And yet Ms. Novak has become so well known in Yemen that newspaper editors say they sell more copies if her photograph — blond and smiling — is on the cover. Her blog, an outspoken news bulletin on Yemeni affairs, is banned there. The government’s allies routinely vilify her in print as an American agent, a Shiite monarchist, a member of Al Qaeda, or “the Zionist Novak.”
The worst of her many offenses is her dogged campaign on behalf of a Yemeni journalist, Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani, who incurred his government’s wrath by writing about a bloody rebellion in the far north of the country. He is on trial on sedition charges that could bring the death penalty, with a verdict expected Wednesday.
Since that article Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani received a 6 year sentence. Jane discusses him in the interview from NPR below.
Also below is an interview from early June on Fox and Friends.
NPR Interview of Jane Novak
Fox and Friends Interview of Jane Novak
NPR Interview tip from Six Meat Buffet
