In late September 2023, the Saba News Agency, controlled by the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group, reported that Mahdi Al-Mashat, the head of the Supreme Political Council appointed by the group, laid the foundation stone for the Sanaa Medical City project in the Mathbah area of the capital Sana'a, without providing specific details about the project's location. However, the report noted the presence of the President of Sanaa University, the Minister of Health, and others at the event.
Al-Mashat had previously tasked the so-called Abdu Ali Hadi - who falsely claims to be a doctor, according to information obtained by "Khuyut" - with preparing the medical city project. A leaked document from Al-Mashat to the head of the General Authority for Lands and Urban Planning revealed the allocation of extensive areas of state land, including 10,000 "libnas" or bricks (approximately 444,400 square meters) west of the Faculty of Medicine within the Sanaa University campus, and granted Hadi ownership contracts for the land.
According to Al-Mashat's decision, the project, which will be named (Sanaa Medical City) within the University of Sanaa, will serve as a national medical center contributing to the development of the health sector. However, the decision indicates that over 70% of the shareholders are from the private sector, with 5% allocated to the University of Sana'a. Despite the attempts by the health minister appointed by the group, Taha Al-Mutawakil, to justify this process, he openly acknowledged that the project is investment-based — meaning it is commercial — and not a service provided by the state to its citizens.
This decision has sparked significant outrage among many citizens, and activists and academics have deemed it an insult to education and the university campus. Lawyer Hashim Sharaf Al-Din, who is close to the group, stated that this decision is illegal and unconstitutional. In a lengthy post on his Facebook page, he asserted that no entity, including the President of the Republic, has the authority to dispose of state lands, and the decision to grant land owned by the University of Sana'a for the establishment of a commercial company is invalid.
Furthermore, he pointed out that Al-Mashat lacks the authority to establish a joint-stock company, deeming this a clear constitutional violation. Al-Sharaf Al-Din emphasized his legal right to seek recourse through the law if this decision is not retracted and all involved parties are held accountable, urging lawyers to join him in suing those implicated in the case.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Fadhli, a unionist and faculty member at the University of Sana'a, confirms to "Khuyut" that, as is widely known, the land was purchased by the State of Kuwait to build housing for Arab professors, which also included covering their salaries.
As for the (incomplete) buildings, they are - according to Al-Fadhli - owned by the endowments, noting that the university paid four billion riyals to buy them, and that the finishing works will be completed to be housing for the teaching staff, but not in the form of ownership.
Previous Attempted Assault
This was not the first attempt by the Houthi authorities to act on the university's land; in December 2021, the West Sana'a Primary Court issued a ruling to return land that the university had purchased from its previous owners, which was met with rejection by the faculty members' union due to its illegitimacy at that time.
Dr. Ali Mahyoub Al-Asali, a member of the administrative board of the Faculty Members' Union at Sana'a University, told "Khuyut" that claims of ownership of the university's land by certain individuals, financed by some parties, had long been used to extort the university and obstruct the construction of certain projects, including faculty housing within the university, with previous landowners arguing that the compensation they received for the land was insufficient.
Systematic Targeting
Months after the appointment of a new leadership for the University of Sana'a, loyal to the Ansar Allah (Houthis) group at the beginning of 2016, headed by Dr. Fawzi Al-Saghir, the university and the Ministry of Awqaf (Endowments), represented by Deputy Minister Fouad Naji, held a joint meeting to discuss the stalled faculty housing project within the university. The meeting approved the formation of a joint committee to evaluate and appraise the buildings of the investment project, which is to submit its final report by the end of August 2016, followed by a direct decision on the purchasing process. Additionally, a committee was formed to inventory the Awqaf lands within the university to organize the necessary contracts and maps and address the existing issues, according to the Saba News Agency.
The agreement to establish the faculty housing project at Sana'a University was made in 2007 between the university, then led by Dr. Saleh Basora, and the Minister of Endowments at the time, Hamoud Abad. It was agreed that the investment authority affiliated with the ministry would build 500 housing units funded by the housing association for faculty members, and that Sana'a University would identify the land within the university campus, according to an article published by Dr. Abdullah Al-Fadhli on the Union's website.
Over the years, eight structural residential buildings (incomplete) were constructed, but construction work ceased in 2009 due to issues related to corruption in the project. Al-Asali points out that the Ministry of Awqaf did not adhere to the executive plan for the project; instead, it sought to exploit it for commercial purposes by establishing a series of shops adjacent to the university wall. In return, the Ministry would collect the revenues from these shops for its benefit for a specified period, after which the revenues would revert to the university. This situation prompted the union to oppose this commercial exploitation.
Moreover, Al-Asali added that this time, some individuals, supported by influential figures within the Ansar Allah (Houthis) authorities, managed to bring the matter to court, which ruled in their favor. Their aim was to seize university lands designated for the establishment of certain colleges and facilities on the western side, intending to use those lands for investment and commercial projects. Strangely, part of these lands is now being targeted for control under the pretext of constructing a medical city.
Debt Claim Developments
Since 2016, the Ministry of Endowments in Sanaa has intensified its meetings and discussions with the leadership of Sana'a University to address all issues related to faculty housing. Interestingly, these meetings used different names for the project; at times, it was referred to as the Sana'a University Residential City Project, while at other times it was called the Endowments Project at Sana'a University. However, the primary aim of these meetings was to settle the outstanding debts owed by the university to the Ministry of Endowments, which amounted to approximately 500 million riyals, part of the costs associated with building the project.
Subsequently, the situation evolved from demanding overdue debts to claiming ownership of the land in favor of the endowments. The Saba News Agency reported on a meeting between the Ministry of Endowments and Sana'a University in January 2017, where an agreement was reached on a proposal presented by the director of the Endowments Office in the capital, which called for seeking financiers to purchase the buildings, completing contracts related to the endowment lands within the university, and ensuring that the university pays rent for the land for all the past years. Nothing was implemented until 2019, when the Minister of Endowments, Najeeb Al-Aji, proposed in a parliamentary session, which he held with the Minister of Higher Education, Hussein Hazeb, that Sana'a University should purchase the buildings at the current market price and pay the owed rent for the land claimed to be owned by the endowments.
According to a source close to the former presidency of Sana'a University - who preferred not to be named - the ownership of the university's land is completely unencumbered and has no connection to the endowments. The agreement made between the university and the Ministry of Endowments was to implement the university housing project in exchange for one and a half billion Yemeni riyals. The source mentioned in his conversation with "Khuyut" that the agreement was with the Ministry of Endowments' Investment Authority, as the authority was responsible at that time for implementing most government sector projects, and the government sector during those periods was obligated to deal with it exclusively.
In the same context, "Khuyut" obtained a document dating back to the year 2000, indicating that all lands owned by Sana'a University were compensated to their previous owners, who are from the Madhbah basin area.
In January 2021, the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) established the General Authority for Endowments, a parallel entity to the Ministry of Endowments, which initiated extensive activities to seize land under the guise of endowment. The head of the Political Council, Mahdi Al-Mashat, stated in a televised speech that all government offices should surrender any surplus land to the authority, without any legal justification. A few months after the authority was formed, it expelled approximately 41 university professors from the University of Sana'a housing and replaced them with others. It then began procedures aimed at detaching a significant portion of the University of Sana'a's land, including the buildings of the doctors' housing project, from the university.
Investment in University Lands
In January 2023, the Endowments Authority approved the establishment of the Endowments University for Science and Technology. The authority announced that it will include scientific, medical, engineering, and applied colleges, in line with the outcomes of the first national dialogue on endowments. In February of the same year, the authority discussed with Sana'a University the procedures to begin implementing the project to establish the Endowments University for Science and Technology on the lands designated for the university faculty housing project, with plans to separate those areas from the university.
On the eastern side of the university, within the university wall at the eastern gate, the group started constructing a large building, believed to be a commercial market. Reports indicate that it is a new headquarters for the "Martyrs" Foundation, affiliated with the group, thus violating the sanctity of the place and disregarding the university's sanctity.
