Call for Probe Into Yemen Torture After UAE Exit
Geneva – An urgent and independent investigation is required into alarming allegations of prisons and illegal detention centres discovered in several locations from which Emirati forces withdrew in southern Yemen. Physical evidence of torture and degrading treatment has been found, consistent with patterns of violations documented in testimonies by victims, including former detainees who reported being held in these facilities.
The testimonies may constitute a significant development towards criminal accountability and justice for hundreds of victims of enforced disappearance and torture. Preserving the current condition of these sites and preventing any tampering is essential to enable fact-finding missions to conduct technical inspections, verify allegations of serious violations, including torture and enforced disappearance, and ensure truth-seeking and accountability in accordance with international law.
The transfer of control over these sites to government forces creates an opportunity to activate long-stalled international mechanisms. With no field-based justification remaining, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances should be granted access. This requires the Yemeni government to facilitate visits and provide guarantees to document potential violations and investigate the use of these sites.
Initial on-site inspections by authorities uncovered what seem to be secret and illegal prisons in the governorates of Aden, Lahij, Dhale, and Hadhramaut. These include sites documented in recent visual evidence from Yemen’s Dabba area in the eastern city of Mukalla, showing facilities built to standards that appear intended to deepen detainees’ suffering and cause long-term physical and psychological harm.
Multiple reports on potential detention centres in Dabba uncovered solitary confinement cells with extremely small dimensions, about 40 centimetres deep and 60 centimetres wide. These cells force detainees to stand, denying them the possibility to sit or sleep, which causes severe exhaustion and serious health issues. Reports also described collective cells resembling shipping containers, painted black to absorb heat and cause extreme physical and mental suffering. Such conditions may constitute cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment as prohibited by international law.
Initial inspections of sites previously under the control of Emirati forces or affiliated armed groups closely align with recent local human rights reports and a report by the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms, which revealed a map of unofficial prisons in southern Yemen. The map includes the Security Directorate Prison, the Criminal Investigation Prison, Waddah Hall, Masharee Camp, the 4th Brigade Prison, Bader Camp, and Beir Ahmed in Aden; Al-Alam and the 5th Brigade Prison in Lahij; and Rayyan Prison in Hadhramaut.
The architectural design of the discovered sites closely matches previous testimonies of survivors of enforced disappearance. Victims described detention facilities as “metal boxes” boiling with heat and reported extremely narrow cells that forced them to stand for days. They also confirmed being subjected to torture, including electrocution, prolonged suspension, severe beatings with steel cables, threats of sexual assault, and deprivation of medical care.
The Emirati Ministry of Defence’s denial of secret detention facilities in locations formerly under its control in Yemen, claiming they were “military barracks, operations rooms, and fortified shelters,” does not adequately counter the compelling evidence shown in recent documents and visual material. This evidence aligns with testimonies from victims of illegal detention and enforced disappearance, whose descriptions of the sites’ architecture closely match the discovered locations.
In addition to detention centres, Yemeni government forces reported that after taking control of Riyan International Airport, they seized quantities of explosives and explosive decoys identical to those typically used in assassinations. This may indicate that the site discovered within the airport was used to plan and manage operations resulting in serious human rights violations, requiring an independent criminal investigation to examine these allegations and seized materials, and to pursue criminal accountability if their use in crimes against civilians is confirmed.
The allegations concerning prisons and potential detention centres do not appear random or isolated but rather indicate a systematic and planned pattern of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and physical and psychological torture. This requires the Yemeni government to intensify efforts to identify additional sites and to reveal the fate of those believed to be held in them.
The UN Special Rapporteur on torture and the Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights must urgently visit Yemen to inspect sites believed to have been used by Emirati forces and affiliated armed groups as unlawful prisons, detention centres, and bases for operations involving serious human rights violations. It is also essential to establish an independent international fact-finding mission to identify all entities involved in creating and managing an integrated system of violence engineering, illegal prisons, and detention centres.
The international community must take practical deterrent measures to ensure accountability and prevent the recurrence of serious violations, including imposing sanctions on those responsible for managing and operating these facilities and pursuing them judicially. Conditioning political, economic, and military relations on states’ compliance with human rights principles and international law is essential to enforce accountability and prevent impunity.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor calls on the Yemeni government to establish a clear and comprehensive legal framework to provide redress for victims of illegal detention centres, including medical care, psychological rehabilitation, and protection for victims and witnesses, while supporting their right to seek justice and fair compensation. Yemeni authorities must also review the internal policies and regulations of security agencies to prevent the recurrence of such violations and ensure compliance with international law and human rights standards.
https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6967/International-probe-required-into-torture-and-unlawful-detention-in-Yemen-after-UAE-withdrawal
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