Methods of Torture in Network of UAE-Run Prisons in South Yemen: Report says

YemenExtra

Y.A

Over 49 detainees have been tortured to death in clandestine prisons run by the UAE in southern Yemen where brutal interrogation techniques, including physical and psychological torture, are used by Emirati forces, a report says.

Al Jazeera received a secret report prepared by former military officials who worked with the Saudi-UAE alliance in Yemen on the conditions of prisons and secret detention centres and forced disappearances.

The information in the report matched the testimonies of prisoners and abductees given to human rights activistsand revealed some of the atrocities taking place in these secret UAE-controlled prisons situated in southern Yemen. The violations range from murdering detainees and abductees to torture and deprivation. Moreover, the report listed sites and names of secret graves, detainees tortured to death and missing persons, as well as identities of the torturers and the details of interrogations.

The forces subjected the inmates to rape and electrocution in the genitals, chest and armpits, it said, adding some prisoners were physically assaulted and insulted while being hung in midair.

The sources also recounted other examples of horrors in the UAE-controlled prisons, saying electric cables were used alongside wooden bats and steel poles during interrogation sessions.

The executioners also use the method of holding detainees in the air, applying hot pepper and salt on open wounds, sleep and medicines deprivation, slapping and kicking, pouring cold water on the body, and insulting as well as cursing them.

The account confirms a report by The Associated Press published in June over alleged acts of torture perpetrated by members of the Saudi-UAE coalition in a network of at least 18 secret prisons.

According to AP, hundreds of men were rounded up and detained on suspicion of belonging to the ISIL’s Yemen branch (ISIS, also known as Daesh) and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). At the time of publication, AP reported that that UAE officials did not respond to requests for comment.

A month later, Amnesty International also reported that the UAE and its allied local militia had been torturing captives at a network of clandestine prisons in southern Yemen.

The report obtained by Al-Jazeera put the number of secret prisons at 27, including sites in Hadramout, Aden, Socotra, Mayyun Island, as well as a facility in Eritrea where the UAE maintains a military base.

The report reveals that in the prisons of Ali Shayi Hadi,loyal to UAE, a person named Awad Rashad and nicknamed the “beast” is also involved in the killing of the detainees. Rashad was recently transferred to an unknown location or assassinated for the secrets he knew and was replaced by another called Ali Al-Emirati to oversee the tortures going on.