Shada Nasser has experience in all fields of legal work, whether civil, personal, criminal, or political.Rarely do I have the opportunity to compliment the Yemen Times in any way or fashion. However, I gladly do so today as they have named this admirable and decent woman (Shada Nasser) the Yemen Times Person of the Year 2008.
“But I refuse to represent the accused in drug related crimes because they cause so much damage to the society, or child rape defendants because I will be fighting against a child who has already gone through much,” she noted.
In the past five years Nasser dedicated much of her time to human rights cases, especially that of detainees. She defended a number of political prisoners as well as provided continuous legal consultations to women inmates in Sana'a’s central prison.
It fulfills her, she said, to go after criminals and those who violate the rights of others just because they can. During her years of work in Yemen she realized that much of the injustice done towards vulnerable groups such as women and children is done by powerful and merciless men who are in the position of being caretakers. That is when she met and defended Amina Al-Tuhaif, the young woman who was in jail for murdering her much older husband, and Fatima Badi, who was accused of murdering her abusive husband.
I'm sure this doesn't sit well with the 'hardliners.' Deal with it... Shada Nasser is a role model...and not just for Muslims or Yemenis.
