The Houthis seek to privatize the Judiciary Council Higher Institute in Sanaa and limit the education to the group's supporters and members.
Local activists circulated documents issued by the Houthis, which included new conditions for applying to the Institute.
Judicial sources in Sanaa described these conditions as racially discriminatory and incapacitating to prevent all those wishing to get judicial studies from joining the Institute, limiting it to the group's supporters and members.
The documents included new conditions for applying to study at the Institute.
Applicants should be from a family with an active role in the war and confronting the legitimate government and the Arab coalition supporting it. They must have enrolled in the Houthi cultural and intellectual courses and participated in the fighting.
The Houthis also set conditions for new applicants wishing to study at the Department of Higher Specialized Studies and Diploma in Criminal Sciences that they pay for all study and training expenses if accepted.
The conditions were met with widespread student and societal rejection for violating the law stipulating free education and training at the Institute.
Applicants must also write a summary of their "jihadists history," asserting their readiness to join the fronts when summoned by the field commanders.
- Raids and threats
The application must also include the student's attestation to the information provided by the governor, the security and intelligence directors, the mobilization representative, and the general supervisor.
Several students who passed the entrance exams and have scientific and academic qualifications expressed dissatisfaction with these conditions, accusing the group of turning the institution into a profit-making organization.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, the students explained that the Houthi terms aim to deprive them of the same status as their former colleagues, adding that the Institute's authority seeks to exclude them from limiting education to their followers.
- Unqualified students
In 2018, the Yemeni government announced that it would not recognize the results of the Judiciary Council Higher Institute under Houthi control and transferred the Institute to the interim capital, Aden.
The legitimate authorities began facilitating students' enrollment and education.
The Houthi militia pushed large numbers of its members and the sons of its leaders to study at the Institute after it successively dispensed with the services of thousands of officers and workers in the Ministry of Interior and Intelligence.
Informed sources in Sanaa confirmed that many of the new members of the Judiciary Institute failed the admission tests, accusing the militias of recruiting unqualified students, in violation of the law, as part of their plan to control the judiciary.
The Houthi militia faced criticism, pressure, and protests by Yemeni students, activists, and lawyers against the backdrop of enrolling hundreds of its members yearly who lack the necessary qualifications.
