Nobel winner says Arab Spring will banish terror

PRO-DEMOCRACY. Human rights activist Tawakkol Karman of Yemen speaks during a press conference at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway Friday Dec. 9, 2011. Karman will receive the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize on Saturday with Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work. (AP Photo/John McConnico)

OSLO, Norway — Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkul Karman says she believes the pro-democracy revolts that have swept the Arab world will help “drive out” al-Qaida terrorists.

Karman told The Associated Press on the eve of Saturday’s award ceremony that the autocratic leaders that were toppled from Tunisia to her native Yemen created an environment where extremism could grow.

She said she’s not worried that conservative Islamist parties would roll back women’s rights, and she expects women in Yemen to hold top political offices, including that of president, “in the near future.”

Karman won the peace prize together with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and women’s rights campaigner Leymah Gbowee, also of Liberia.