AI Urges Probe of Torture at Yemen Detention Centers

Local Editor

Amnesty International accused the United Arab Emirates [UAE] and allied Yemeni forces of torturing detainees at a network of secret prisons in southern Yemen and said such violations should be investigated as war crimes.

Scores of men had been subjected to enforced disappearance after being arbitrarily detained by UAE and Yemeni forces “operating outside the command of their own government”, Amnesty said in a statement.

The UAE, a key US ally, claims it has never run prisons or secret detention centers in Yemen and that prisons there are under the authority of the Yemeni government. It and its Yemeni allies have denied past accusations of torturing prisoners.

“The UAE has urged the Yemeni government to conduct an independent investigation into the matter and continues to follow up with the Yemeni government on this front”, Emirati authorities said in a statement responding to the report.

The UAE is one of the leading countries in an alliance of Arab states bombing Yemen.

In this regard, the UAE mission in Geneva claimed last month that Yemeni authorities “are in complete control of local and federal governance, judicial and prison systems”.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team