On September 5, 2023, Abdulaziz Al-Hajj, a Houthi leader and appointed vice president of Yemen’s University of Science and Technology (UST), physically and verbally assaulted Mahmoud Al-Rumaima, the dean of UST’s college of engineering.

In early 2020, Houthi forces assumed control of UST and appointed militia leader Adel Al-Mutawakkil as the university’s president. Al-Hajj was initially appointed as head of the Houthi judicial guard stationed at UST and gradually rose in status to his current position as vice president.

According to reports, Al-Hajj attacked Al-Rumaima after the dean refused to accept a memorandum issued by one of Vice President Al-Hajj’s relatives, Abdel Aziz Al-Hajj, also a Houthi leader and appointed vice president, of Azal University of Human Development. UST Vice President Al-Hajj and members of the Houthi’s judicial guard—a group that seizes the assets of opposition figures, companies, properties, and institutions like universities—stormed the college of engineering, pointed a weapon at Al-Rumaima, threatened to stab him, and shouted profanities.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about an assault on a faculty member by de facto university leadership and members of a de facto governing body. University and government authorities, including de facto authorities, have an obligation to refrain from using force as a form of political pressure against members of academic communities. In addition to the harm to the immediate victims, such attacks undermine academic freedom and institutional autonomy.

Sources:
*SAR identified this incident in data made publicly available by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
https://marebpress.net/news_details.php?sid=195263
https://alasimahonline.com/sanaa/17053
https://yemenshabab.net/news/87450
https://m.sa24.co/article/16537241
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php