Age: 32
Occupation: Human-rights activist
Previous TIME 100 appearances: 0
This 32-year-old mother of three is an unlikely activist. But as the chair of Women Journalists Without Chains — a Yemeni group that defends freedom of expression — she has been protesting at Sana'a University, in the nation's capital, every Tuesday since 2007. Her aim: to pressure Yemen's President of 32 years, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to step down. Though she's been arrested several times, she remains an advocate for peaceful change, inspired by the success of democratic movements in Tunisia and Egypt. But as Yemen heads into its third month of violent protests, a peaceful transition to democracy remains elusive.