Yemenis Demand Release of their Imprisoned Relatives in UAE-Run Prisons

Yemenis Demand Release of their Imprisoned Relatives in UAE-Run Prisons

Family members of Yemeni prisoners believed to be held in a secret prison network run by the UAE and its local allies have staged a sit in outside the Red Cross headquarters in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, demanding their release.

The protesters called for urgent intervention of the Red Cross, demanding a real international investigation into allegations that the UAE and its allied Yemeni security forces detained and tortured hundreds of their beloved ones.

Last month, an AP news agency investigation revealed that dozens of cases of Yemenis being held by the UAE soldiers as prisoners of war. And some of the people originally held in the UAE-run prisons are said to have been moved out of Yemen.

The AP documented at least 18 clandestine lockups across southern Yemen run by the UAE or Yemeni forces, drawing on accounts from former detainees, families of prisoners, civil rights lawyers and Yemeni military officials.

After the report was published, senior US defence officials acknowledged that American forces had been involved in interrogations of detainees in Yemen but denied any participation in or knowledge of human-rights abuses.
 

 

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