SANA'A, Jan. 26 -- Political activists released from jail earlier this week detailed their prison experiences to the Yemen Times and confirmed their commitment to continue with protests in the capital. Tawakkol Karman, who became the public face of Yemeni protesters, said that she was "kidnapped" on her way home on Sunday morning. Three police cars stopped her while she was driving with her husband. Security officials who had no arrest warrants or official identification forced her to go with them. Karman said that "they were in civilian clothes". "I went to the Central Prison feeling that I might spend a longer time there because I am fighting for my people's freedom. They took me to the prison because the regime failed to stop me," she said. Karman said that the regime couldn't restrict her or withhold her freedom. She said that she continued protesting against the government even in the prison. "I wasn't disappointed. I entered the prison smiling and I tried to teach prisoners more about their rights and about the Jasmine Revolution (that toppled the former Tunisian president). We shouted for (President Ali Abdullah) Saleh to leave office. We were singing Tunisian revolution slogans, "if the people want to live then their fate must respond and the darkness must end and the chains will break". I also slept in prison like I never did before," she said. Karman also said being arrested also gave her the opportunity to listen to female prisoners and to see the prison with her own eyes. "I was happy to discover the prison and to talk to the prisoners. I never had the chance to visit the Central Prison before although I have visited prisons in other countries. I was surprised that the prison was better than the image we had of it before," said Karman. While Karman was teaching prisoners their rights and holding demonstrations inside the Central Prison, more journalists and activists were arrested while on their way to deliver a complaint to the General Prosecutor in Sana'a on Sunday morning. Around 1,800 protesters also marched to the General Prosecutor's office on Sunday and Monday this week demanding for the release of Karman and those arrested on Sunday. Ali Al-Dailami, one of the activists who were arrested on Sunday, said that they spent twenty-seven-and-a-half hours in an underground "dirty" jail. Al-Dailami is head of the Yemeni Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms and he said that he was taken violently from the street and shoved into a police car. He also said that police hit him on his neck. Al-Dailami said that they couldn't bear the smell and the dirt of the Central Prison so they donated money to its officials and made the prison guards buy cleaning detergents. "We spent most of our time there cleaning the jail," he said. Khaled Al-Anesi, a lawyer who was also jailed, said that in total 22 activists and journalists were arrested on Sunday. They were all released on Monday. Al-Anesi told the Yemen Times that it was the first time that he had been arrested during his 15 years of activist activities. He said that he was proud to be jailed "for the people and the country's honor". "We refused to be interrogated as the arrest procedures weren't legal from the start. They kept us in a very small room that only seven persons could fit in and we were 23. They didn't allow us to pray or to call our families," said Al-Anesi. Protests in Sana'a started on January 16 when Sana'a University students took to the city's streets. Karman also called for pro-Tunisian protests and these took place in front of the Tunisian embassy in Sana'a. Students asked her to help them replicate Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution in Yemen. The Interior Minister's office called Karman on the second day of the demonstration to tell her that those demonstrations without its permission were eligible. Karman said that the "opportunity for change in Yemen is big now because the whole Yemen is moving". She said that citizens were fed up with promises to change. "The same president kept promising to make comprehensive amendments and to counter corruption. The only solution is for Saleh and the government to change," said Karman. Al-Anesi launched a campaign on the Internet calling for Saleh to leave office. He said that he received threats on his life from intelligence agents since he published this proposal online. His proposal states that a temporary council should be formed comprising leaders of five political parties that have representation in the Parliament. This council would be responsible for carrying out the president's duties and overseeing the military, security, media and the treasury. Al-Anesi said that this council would also adopt a temporary national government until electing a new parliament. The opposition Joint Meeting Parties branch in Sana'a said that it would organize four anti-government demonstrations today.
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