Iran-backed Houthi militias have evicted several academics from on-campus accommodations at universities in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, sources have said.
“Last week, Houthis arbitrarily removed 20 scholars along with their families and children from their assigned housing units at university campuses,” Sanaa-based sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“Houthis are looking to bring their loyalists to replace the expelled academics,” they warned, recounting how armed vehicles had stormed faculty residences a few days ago.
Despite growing public discontent, the group has stepped up its clearance campaign targeting academics and their families across Sanaa universities.
“A four-day notice was handed out to those compelled to leave,” sources revealed, adding that Houthis threatened to use force if the academics refused to comply with the eviction deadline.
Houthis have included the widows and orphans of dead professors in their evictions.
At a time when a crippling economic crisis has taken over the lives of many Yemenis, university housing is proving indispensable to the disadvantaged dependents of deceased academics trying to keep a roof over their heads.
“Academics living on campus have been doing so without receiving any salaries,” sources noted, stressing that those thrown out of university housing will not be able to pay rent anywhere.
Reports dating back to early March reveal that Houthis had ruthlessly dislodged 40 academics and their families in a matter of days.
So far, Houthis have carried out the expulsion of around 150 academics and their families from university accommodations across Sanaa, sources revealed.
Since overrunning Sanaa in 2014, Houthis have committed a series of heinous abuses and crimes against higher education institutions in the capital and other areas they control.
Academics, students, and administrative staff in both public and private universities have been targeted by Houthis.
