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Amnesty Urges Probe of Alleged Torture in UAE-Run Prisons

by VOA News

   Amnesty International is calling for a war crimes investigation into
   alleged disappearances, torture and likely deaths in prisons run by the
   United Arab Emirates in southern Yemen.

   In a report released Thursday titled God Only Knows If He's Alive, the
   international human rights watchdog said it documented "egregious
   violations going unchecked, including systemic enforced disappearance
   and torture and other ill-treatment amounting to war crimes.''

   "Ultimately these violations, which are taking place in the context of
   Yemen's armed conflict, should be investigated as war crimes," said
   Tirana Hassan, Amnesty's crisis response director.

   "The UAE's counterterrorism partners, including the U.S.A., must also
   take a stand against allegations of torture, including by investigating
   the role of U.S. personnel in detention-related abuses in Yemen, and by
   refusing to use information that was likely obtained through torture or
   other ill-treatment."

   UAE issued a statement Thursday promptly rejecting Amnesty's report,
   describing it as "politically motivated."

   The UAE is part of a regional coalition that is seeking to restore
   Yemen's internationally recognized government and end a three-year-old
   civil war against Houthi rebels.

   Amnesty said it investigated 51 cases of men allegedly detained in
   Aden, Lahj, Abyan, Hadramawt and Shabwa provinces. It said most of the
   cases involved forced disappearances, and 19 of the men remain missing.

   "The families of these detainees find themselves in an endless
   nightmare where their loved ones have been forcibly disappeared by
   UAE-backed forces,'' Hassan said. "When they demand to know where their
   loved ones are held, or if they are even still alive, their requests
   are met with silence or intimidation.''