SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties called today, Thursday, May 1st 2020, Houthis militia in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, for the immediate release of Dr. Hamid Aqlan, president of the University of Science and Technology, who has been detained since last February, and Abdul Karim Al-Eryani, a member of the Socialist Party, held arbitrarily since the end of 2018.

SAM said that the Houthis militia arrested Abdulkareem Al-Eryani, 58, on Monday 10 December 2018, from his workplace in the Ministry of Water and Environment, where gunmen came on two military cars, claimed to be from the National Security, who took him to the Political Security Detention Center. And he is still under detention.

SAM said that Al-Eryani's family has been living in difficult conditions since his arrest, where they were deprived of seeing him for 23 days, then they were allowed one visit every 15 days, and his wife suffered diabetes and one of his daughters suffers depression, seizures and coma from time to time due to the absence of her father.

Ali Abdul Karim Al-Eryani's family suffers from liver, kidneys, stomach and colon, diseases.

SAM said that Al-Eryani’s case was referred to the Houthis Public Prosecution’s office and his family demanded his release, especially with fears of an outbreak of Coronavirus.

It is noteworthy that Abdulkareem Al-Eryani was ordered to release, however, the militia refused, and his detention almost passed 500 days.

On February 11, 2020, the Houthis militia detained again Professor Hamid Muhammad Aqlan, President of the University of Science and Technology, and Chairman of the University of Science and Technology Hospital in the capital, Sana'a.

Aqlan was arrested on the basis of a complaint by the so-called receiver on charges of aiding the Arab Coalition.

Aqlan is being interrogated on malicious charges of a political nature related to his work and his refusal to subject the university to the financial blackmail of the Houthis.

SAM said that after the arrest of Aqlan, Houthis militia controlled the University of and replaced him.

Tawfiq Al-Hamidi, head of the SAM Organization for Rights and Rights, said that the arrest of the Houthis of academic and cultural figures in Yemen has become a disturbing phenomenon, and it reveals that the Houthis militia no longer takes into account any restrictions in its dealings with its adversaries, and that the security and judicial institutions of the Houthis have become another tool of violation of human rights and increasing the suffering of victims and their relatives.

SAM called in the statement Houthis militia to release immediately the detainees, Professor Aqlan and al-Eryani, without restriction or condition, stressing that human rights violators will not escape punishment.

SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties, Geneva

May 1, 2020 AD