Geneva based NGO discloses more UAE war crimes in secret prisons in Yemen

A recent report from SAM for Rights and Liberties, a Geneva based human rights group, confirms gross human rights violations in secret prisons which are funded and managed by Emirati forces throughout war-torn Yemen.

The report claims that “[Emirati] forces intend to detain thousands of Yemenis, including political opponents, opinion-holders, and even civilians, without any charge and any judicial process”. 

The human rights group draws attention to the ‘cruel forms of torture’ that detainees were subjected to once imprisoned. In a harrowing account, prisoner Abdullah al-Ashari describes his ordeal: “I was beaten by a large number of soldiers until I lost consciousness. I only woke up when they sprayed me with cold water, and then they hit me again until my strength collapsed”. 

The UAE’s secret prison network dates back to 2016 when Amnesty International disclosed satellite imagery of an expanding detention area from the UAE/coalition base in the Adens Bureiqa district of Yemen. In July 2017 Amnesty revealed that a total of 18 secret prisons were run by UAE-backed forces in southern Yemen.   

The report called for assistance from the UN Security Council to ensure all prisons are closed and all violators are brought to justice. 

The UN has so far recorded that 200,000 lives have been taken since the civil war broke out in 2014.

This number is likely to increase as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis continues to unfold in 2021, and in light of the devastating impacts of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.