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WORLD NEWS Friday 13 July 2018

Amnesty urges ‘war crimes’ probe on UAE-run prisons in Yemen

By SAMY MAGDY “Ultimately these violations
Associated Press ... should be investigated
CAIRO (AP) — An inter- as war crimes. Both the
national rights group on Yemeni and UAE govern-
Thursday called for an in- ments should take imme-
vestigation into alleged diate steps to end them
disappearances, torture and provide answers to the
and possible deaths in de- families whose husbands,
tention facilities run by the fathers, brothers and sons
United Arab Emirates and are missing,” Hassan said.
its allied militias in southern In the AP’s investigation last
Yemen as potential war year, former prisoners and
crimes. security officials described
Amnesty International’s call widespread torture at pris-
comes months after The ons run by the Emiratis and
Associated Press reported their militias. Thousands of
that the UAE and allied mili- Yemenis swept up in the
tias were running a network U.S.-backed campaign
of secret detention facilities against al-Qaida have
where torture and abuses been held in the prisons
were widespread, outside without being charged or
the control of Yemeni Presi- tried. Some have been in-
dent Abed Rabbo Mansour terrogated by U.S. person-
Hadi’s government. In this May 11, 2017 file photo, a former detainee covers his face for fear of being detained again nel inside the facilities, the
In a report titled “God only a secret prison at Riyan airport in the Yemeni city of Mukalla. AP found.q
knows if he’s alive,” Am- Associated Press
nesty said it documented territory in the south, includ- the cases involved forced
“egregious violations going ing towns and cities. disappearances, and 19 of
unchecked, including sys- Amnesty said that these the men remain missing.
temic enforced disappear- militias were “created, “The families of these de-
ance and torture and other trained, equipped and fi- tainees find themselves
ill-treatment amounting to nanced” by the UAE and in an endless nightmare
war crimes.” are “operating outside the where their loved ones
The UAE issued a state- command of their own have been forcibly disap-
ment Thursday promptly government.” peared by UAE-backed
rejecting Amnesty’s report, The Emiratis, it added, have forces,” said Tirana Hassan,
describing it as “politically also built alliances with Ye- crisis response director at
motivated to undermine” meni security officials that Amnesty. “When they de-
Emirati efforts as part of the bypass the Yemeni govern- mand to know where their
Saudi-led coalition in sup- ment. loved ones are held, or if
port of the Yemeni govern- The UAE has repeatedly they are even still alive,
ment. denied it is involved in un- their requests are met with
In Yemen’s 3-year-old civil lawful detention practices silence or intimidation.”
war, the UAE is part of a in Yemen. On Sunday, An- Amnesty said it had docu-
Saudi-led coalition bat- war Gargash, the UAE state mented “widespread use
tling Iranian-backed Shiite minister for foreign affairs, of torture and other ill-treat-
rebels known as Houthis dismissed reports that his ment in Yemeni and Emirati
who have taken over most country controls prisons as facilities.” Current and for-
of the country’s north. Os- “fake news.” Amnesty said mer detainees and fami-
tensibly, the Emiratis and the denials come “despite lies gave “horrific accounts
Hadi’s government are al- all the evidence to the of abuse including beat-
lies in the fight, but tensions contrary.” ings, use of electric shocks
between them have been Amnesty said it investigat- and sexual violence,” the
high. ed the cases of 51 men al- watchdog said.
The UAE has built up mili- legedly detained by UAE- The report quoted an un-
tias across southern Yemen backed militias between named detainee as saying
that government officials March 2016 and May 2018 that he saw a fellow de-
say are only loyal to the in Aden, Lahj, Abyan, tainee being carried away
Emiratis. Those forces have Hadramawt and Shabwa in a body bag after being
taken over wide swaths of provinces. It said most of repeatedly tortured.