The human rights activist and Nobel Peace laureate Tawakkol Karman has revealed that a Japanese activist recently informed her that traveling to Yemeni Socotra requires no longer permission from Yemeni authorities, but rather from the UAE. 

"During my last visit to Japan, a Japanese activist, who is very much a fan of Yemen, told me, that she was informed she could travel to Socotra directly from the UAE without the need to get permission from Yemen," said Tawakkol Karman on her Twitter account today.

Karman stressed that travel in this way is a hostile act by the UAE, which has turned into an occupier of Yemen, noting that vital parts of the country have become under the UAE control.  

It is noteworthy that Socotra is a Yemeni archipelago of six islands on the Indian Ocean off the coast of the Horn of Africa near the Gulf of Aden. 

Yemeni activists have accused the authorities of the UAE of damaging the island’s archaeological sites and stealing its treasures of the Yemeni archipelago.

In early February, Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, directed the local authorities to stop every practice aimed to misuse the territory of the island of Socotra, especially after the UAE has been repeatedly accused of controlling the island.