Dr. Yousif Saleh Ali Al-Bawab is a Yemeni academic, educator and human rights defender who has been detained by Houthi authorities in Sana’a as part of a group of thirty-six intellectuals (professors, students) prosecuted by the Specialised Criminal Court. On 16 August 2021, the Specialised Criminal Appeals Court in Sana’a held a session on his case (among others), confirming decisions previously made in March 2021 including allowing detainees to receive books (pending security approval), urging employers to continue paying the imprisoned academics salaries, asking universities to suspend the studies (rather than expel) detained students, and ensuring medical treatment for those in need, but these were not yet implemented. In that hearing, Al-Bawab demanded an investigation into prison staff whom he accused of having tortured him: he alleged that during pretrial detention he was forcibly disappeared into solitary confinement for six weeks, beaten with sticks, and choked nine times by two prison employees, plus a further assault carried out by five of their companions. He also insisted on having his personal laptop to be able to continue his academic research. The court postponed the hearing to 11 October 2021 to allow his defence team time to prepare appeals. While eight of the 36 detainees were later released in a prisoner exchange, 22 remain in detention, and human rights organisations call for their immediate and unconditional release, emphasising none of them should have been sentenced to death in the first place.