Embassy of Republic of Yemen Condemns Houthis Abduction and Detention of Dr. Hamid Aqlan, Urges International Community & the Human Rights Organizations to Act
January 31, 2020
The Embassy of the Republic of Yemen in Washington, D.C. unequivocally condemns the Iran-backed Houthis’ abduction of Dr. Hamid Aqlan, the president of the Sana’a-based University of Science and Technology, and his transfer to an unnamed prison without notification to his family or colleagues. His replacement by Adel Al-Mutawakkl, a known Houthi affiliate, is yet another instance in a long line of Houthi interference in Yemeni academics to promote their evil and flawed ideology.
“The Iran-backed Houthi’s abuse of the Yemeni higher education system is intended to warp the Yemeni people’s minds to be sympathetic towards terrorism,” said Ambassador of the Republic of Yemen Dr. Ahmed Awab BinMubarak. “They have consistently violated the basic human rights of the people within their territory, despite their pledge to the Stockholm Agreement.”
This is not the first time that the Houthis have interfered with the University. In 2014, the group stormed the campus, confiscated university equipment and threatened its closure. In 2018, militias arrested several professors from the University of Sanaa, holding them in similar censored prisons, and have continued to reject their pay.
The government of Yemen calls on the international community to exert necessary maximum pressure on the Houthi militias to stop their abduction of prominent Yemeni academics, to make their prisons, uncensored, and to release immediately all prisoners in accordance with the Stockholm Agreement and the related UN Security Council Resolutions.