Trial of scholars and accusation of espionage.. A Houthi attempt to insult teachers and empty universities of their minds (monitoring)

"Knowledge and academic degrees have become a crime under the Houthi militia," this is how Yemenis responded to the terrorist Houthi militia showing symbols of science in Yemen, wearing the blue clothes of the accused, from inside its prisons, describing them as "spies."

The Yemenis condemned the appearance of the great scholar Dr. Muhammad Hatem Al-Mikhlafi, a professor of curricula, educational thinker, and philosopher of education known in Yemen and the world, on the Houthi militia channels, while he was giving what they called “confessions” under torture, accusing him of being a spy who worked for the American intelligence agency, the CIA.

According to Yemeni activists, Dr. Al-Mikhlafi is a close friend of the childhood of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis. He is the educational expert who contributed to the development of Yemeni educational curricula since the early nineties of the last century, before they were surprised by his appearance in that form that the Houthi militia sought to present to the people as a spy who encourages atheism and moral decadence, according to its claim.

Al-Mikhlafi’s appearance is not an insult to him as the terrorist militia believes, but rather an insult to knowledge and scholars in Yemen, as it strives to strike the educational process, and strike and insult the symbols of education in the country, in an effort to try to restore its Imami approach, which calls for the sanctification of the lineage, and the so-called Ahl al-Bayt only, and this is Dr. Al-Mikhlafi’s crime.

Public trial of Yemeni scholars

The Houthi militias had broadcasted confessions through their media channels, a few days ago, of the two educational experts, Dr. "Mohammed Hatem Al-Mikhlafi", 65 years old, and "Mujeeb Mahyoub Al-Mikhlafi", 52 years old, in which they admitted to cooperating with American organizations and leaking information about workers and curricula in Yemen.

Human rights organizations considered that these recordings are part of a continuous series of attacks carried out by the group against the educational process in Yemen, pointing out that these complex violations against both educational experts were represented in the publication of alleged confessions on television screens in a clear violation of the privacy of the investigation and their right not to broadcast what was included in it.

According to human rights organizations, the confessions were made in front of judicial police officers, which is a fundamental flaw in the procedures that require the investigation to be conducted before the Public Prosecution, while observers considered it a Houthi trial of Yemeni scholars to undermine the sanctity of education.

Undermining the educational process

In this regard, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information, Dr. Muhammad Qizan, described Professor Muhammad Hatem Al-Mikhlafi as “an educational expert with a good reputation and reputation among his colleagues and students at Sana’a University.”

He added on his page on the "X" platform, "He is over 65 years old. The Houthi militia kidnapped him months ago from his home in Sana'a without any charges, and today they are presenting him as a spy for America; under the pretext of his studies there, and for preparing reading curricula for grades (1-3) in 1990 AD."

Professor Mohammed Hatem Al-Mikhlafi is an educational expert with a good reputation among his colleagues and students at Sana'a University. He is over 65 years old. He was kidnapped by the Houthi militia months ago from his home in Sana'a without any charges. Today, they are presenting him as a spy for America under the pretext of his studies there, and for preparing reading curricula for grades (1-3) in 1990. pic.twitter.com/KeLD8eUKvs

— Mohammed Qizan (@mohgezan) September 2, 2024

In turn, the Yemeni researcher and politician, Nabil Al-Bakri, said, “This person in the picture before you is the most important and prominent educational scholar and curricula in Yemen, Muhammad Hatem Al-Mikhlafi, and the author of the curricula for the first grades in Yemeni schools.”

He added: "The Houthi sectarian prostitution militias present him as a spy and try him as a criminal, although he is one of Yemen's leading figures in education and their excuse for that is his university studies in America, where most of the sons of the officials and leaders of this sectarian militia group study."

In another tweet, Al-Bakri said, “The distinguished scholar and educational expert, Dr. Mujib Al-Mikhlafi, has been in the Houthi militias’ dungeons for a year on a ridiculous and dirty charge, which is the charge through which the Houthi militias are trying to undermine the educational process in Yemen as a whole,” stressing that “Dr. Al-Mikhlafi is one of the most prominent scholars of education and teaching methods in Yemen.”

Al-Mikhlafi added, "He contributed to developing curricula, and supervised and discussed dozens of master's and doctoral theses in many Yemeni universities," noting that the Houthi militia "is desperate to strike education by targeting these scientific figures who, after striking them with the ridiculous and blatant accusation of espionage, create a vacuum in which their racist and sectarian myths and trivialities expand."

This person in the picture before you is the most important and prominent educational scholar and curricula in Yemen, Muhammad Hatem Al-Mikhlafi, and the developer of the curricula for the first grades in Yemeni schools.
The Houthi sectarian prostitution militias present him as a spy and try him as a criminal, although he is one of Yemen's leading figures in education. Their excuse for this is his university studies in America, which... pic.twitter.com/tFYsSrkh2U

— Nabil Albokairi Nabil Albokairi (@NAlbokairi) September 2, 2024

Emptying universities of their minds

For her part, Yemeni lawyer and human rights activist Hoda Al-Sarari said, commenting on what was published by Houthi media against Dr. Al-Mikhlafi, “Knowledge and academic degrees have become a crime under the Houthi militia. Either you are a submissive, backward slave who embraces all sectarian heresies and lives on them, or you are a spy.”

In turn, the Yemeni Ambassador, Mohammed Jameh, said, “The great Yemeni scholar, Dr. Mohammed Hatem Al-Mikhlafi, a professor of curricula, educational thinker, and philosopher of education known in Yemen and the world, is being forced by the Houthis, after the apparent torture he suffered, to confess to his betrayal and dealings with American intelligence!”

Jamil added, wondering in an article titled “Al-Mikhlafi…a spy”, what exactly is the “crime”?! Reviewing the Houthi accusations against Al-Mikhlafi that he “introduced ‘atheistic’ phrases into the reading curricula, such as that rain ‘falls from the sky’, which is an ‘atheistic’ phrase, because it did not mention that God is the one who sends down the rain!”

He continued: “This is a phrase about rain as a ‘gift from heaven’, which is another ‘atheistic’ phrase, according to Dr. Al-Mikhlafi’s forced confessions, because rain is a gift from God, not a gift from heaven, and because this phrase is ‘Christian’, as well as the accusation of including drawings of women with a little hair showing in the pictorial drawings, and this is evidence of the doctor’s incitement to ‘pornography’!”

Jamih stressed that "these ridiculous accusations aim to empty the universities of their minds, so that they can devote themselves to teaching the myths of Abdul-Malik and his brother before him. They aim to threaten university professors that they will meet the same fate if they do not adhere to the path of ignorance and misguidance. They also aim to blackmail, kill morale, and cause harm and insults to the families of the accused."

Iranian charges

Mohammed Jameh reiterated that “these charges are the same as the charges that the Khomeinis leveled against Iranian university professors after Khomeini came to power, as part of what was called at the time the “Cultural Revolution,” during which tens of thousands of university professors, thinkers, writers, poets, and activists were killed in Iran, and which the Houthis are replicating today in Yemen.”

He added: "These charges remind us of the charges of blasphemy, immorality and corruption that the Imamate regime directed at the thinkers, scholars and free people of Yemen, whom the criminal regime presented to the guillotines in Hajjah, Sana'a, Taiz and other cities of the country," noting that "these charges are the charges that were directed at the Imam of Yemen and its great leader, and its great leader, Nashwan bin Saeed Al-Himyari, by the tyrant Abdullah bin Hamza."

Ambassador Jamih reiterated that "Mohammed Hatem Al-Mikhlafi will remain one of Yemen's shining stars, whom the new priests will not be able to harm, no matter what accusations they fabricate against him and force him to confess to them, using boring methods that have become exposed to all Yemenis."

The Houthis forced Dr. Mohammed Al-Mikhlafi, a professor of curricula and a great educational thinker, to admit that he was working for the American intelligence, because he introduced an “atheistic” phrase into the reading curricula, which is that rain “falls from the sky” and that it is “a gift from heaven,” because the phrases do not indicate that God is the one who does that!
They empty the universities of their minds. pic.twitter.com/TReEq3PtdK

— Dr. Muhammad Jumeh (@MJumeh) September 2, 2024

systematic targeting of the educational process

In turn, the American Center for Justice (ACJ) considered the Houthi militia’s broadcasting of confessions of collaboration by educational experts Dr. “Mohammed Hatem Al-Mikhlafi” and “Mojeeb Mahyoub Al-Mikhlafi” as a continuation of its targeting of education.

The center said in a statement published on its website, "What the Houthi militia did by broadcasting confessions of collaboration by the educational experts Dr. "Mohammed Hatem Al-Mikhlafi", 65 years old, and "Mujeeb Mahyoub Al-Mikhlafi", 52 years old, and they admit that they cooperated with American organizations and leaked information about workers and curricula in Yemen, comes within a continuous series of targeting carried out by the group against the educational process in Yemen."

The American Justice Center stated that it had monitored several complex violations against both educational experts, including the broadcasting of alleged confessions on television in clear violation of the privacy of the investigation and their right not to broadcast what was included in it. In addition, the confessions were made in front of judicial police officers, which is a fundamental flaw in the procedures that require the investigation to be conducted before the Public Prosecution.

Privacy violation and serious violations

For his part, the Executive Director of the Center, Lawyer Abdul Rahman Barman, said that what happened with the two educational experts includes serious and unacceptable legal violations, which include the violation of privacy and the display of recordings in which those arrested were forced to confess to committing the crimes mentioned in the video clips filmed and published.

Barman confirmed that "the allegations of these confessions were made during the enforced disappearance and in front of the security apparatus of the Houthi group, which is an entity not legally authorized to investigate, especially since the Houthi group's record is full of such incidents, which we believe they resorted to pressuring them to extract these confessions."

The American Center for Justice stressed that this targeting of workers in the education sector is not the first, as the group’s record is full of violations and unjustified practices towards the educational process, from kidnapping teachers, supervisors and academic experts to ongoing attempts to change educational curricula in a way that achieves the group’s sectarian goals.

He stressed that the group deliberately accuses people known for their role in developing the education sector in Yemen in order to remove them and employ people who hold the group’s ideology and doctrine and work to establish it in the curricula and ideas of school students.

The center called on the Houthi group to release the "Al-Mikhlafi" detainees urgently, stressing that the file of kidnapping and torturing educators and the killing of many of them inside the group's prisons requires an immediate and impartial investigation to determine the details of these serious violations and bring all those involved to justice.

The American Center for Justice (ACJ) said that what the Houthi group did by broadcasting confessions of educational experts Dr. "Mohammed Hatem Al-Mikhlafi" and "Mujeeb Mahyoub Al-Mikhlafi", in which they admitted to cooperating with American organizations and leaking information about workers and curricula in Yemen, comes within a connected series... pic.twitter.com/0zQFnISxZV

— American Center For Justice (@acj_usa) September 5, 2024

prison, end of service gratuity

Judge Abdul Wahab Qatran (one of the previously released abductees) quoted the abductee Al-Mikhlafi, who stayed with him in detention for several months, conveying the suffering of the abductees in the cells of the terrorist Houthi militias, saying, "He worked in the General Department of the Ministry of Education for 23 years, and the last thing I did was get an end-of-service bonus and they threw me in prison." He pointed out that he had never known prison throughout his life.

Qatran, quoting Al-Mikhlafi in detention, indicated that his charge is that he works for an international organization that works in educating young people, and it is officially licensed by the militia authority in Sana'a. He stressed that the militia is deliberately fabricating charges against the kidnapped people of working for foreign countries and being spies, without any justification.

He explained the extent of the tragedies suffered by the kidnapped educator, Mujib Al-Mikhlafi, the militia's treatment of him in solitary confinement, and the investigation methods used by militia members against the kidnapped in prisons.

Al-Mikhlafi complained about the treatment of the investigators in the detention center, describing their treatment as foolish, and said: “The investigation sessions continue for more than four hours while he is blindfolded, with trivial questions that indicate a lack of experience and knowledge of this militia.

Abdul Wahab Qatran tells us some of his suffering and the suffering of the detained educational teacher Mujib Al-Mikhlafi:

From my memories in cell number "23":
I had decided, after pressure from dear friends, to postpone writing about
Security and intelligence cells in Sana'a. Today I resume writing a small portion of it:

My memories of prison and cell…

— Ahmed Saif Hashed Hashem (@CivicCoalition) September 4, 2024

European concern

This comes at a time when the European Union Mission to Yemen stated that it is deeply concerned about the arbitrary detention by the Houthi militia of employees of the United Nations, international and local non-governmental organizations, and diplomatic missions in Yemen.

The mission said in a statement that the continued detention of humanitarian staff without any contact with them for more than 90 days now severely hinders the ability of the international community to help millions of Yemenis in urgent need of aid.

She stressed that the European Union ambassadors fully support and emphasize the repeated international calls, launched by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, for the immediate and unconditional release of the kidnapped.