SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Starting July 1, 2026, SAR no longer publishes reports for the incidents that it records. SAR continues to monitor and record incidents that will be used in the annual Free to Think report. This page provides a record of incidents reported up to that date. Learn more about the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.

Date of Incident: November 10, 2025

Attack Types: Imprisonment

Institution(s):Dal Center for Social Studies

Region & Country:Western Asia | Yemen

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On November 10, 2025, Houthi forces raided the office of the Dal Center for Social Studies and detained sociologist Hamoud al-Awdi, along with two of his colleagues.

The raid came amid increasing repression of civil society organizations and research centers in areas of Yemen under Houthi control. In addition to working with the Dal Center for Social Studies, al-Awdi is a prominent sociologist at Sana’a University.

Al-Awdi and one of his colleagues, Abdulrahman al-Alfi, were detained after the Houthi’s Security and Intelligence Service summoned them to their headquarters. Houthi forces simultaneously raided the Dal Center, arresting the center’s secretary, Anwar Khaled Shaab, and confiscating computers, books, academic research, and personal belongings. On November 11, al-Awdi and al-Alfi were transferred to a detention facility located northwest of Sana’a, where they were held in isolation for three weeks. Their release was condition upon their agreement to commercial “attendance guarantees” from merchants with businesses registered in Sana’a. The guarantee means that Houthi forces can summon al-Awdi and al-Alfi at any time.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about the arbitrary arrest of a professor and research staff. Absent further evidence of wrongdoing, these arrests suggests an effort to retaliate against or deter academic work or views — conduct that is expressly protected by international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Afghanistan is a party. State authorities must respect academic freedom and nonviolent expressive conduct and refrain from actions intended to punish, restrict, or deter such conduct. In addition to the harm to the immediate victim, such actions undermine academic freedom and higher education more generally.

Sources:
*SAR identified this incident in data made publicly available by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/01/08/houthi-detentions-halting-aid-in-crisis-hit-yemen
https://www.yemenmonitor.com/en/Details/ArtMID/908/ArticleID/157042
https://south24.net/news/newse.php?nid=5053
https://www.mayyun.org/news1518.html