An international rights group, Amnesty International, has come down heavily against United Arab Emirates (UAE) on their secret prison facilities and the treatment of detainees inside these prisons.
The rights group has called for a war crime investigation against the arbitrary detention, torture and alleged disappearance in facilities controlled by UAE.
“There is significant evidence that UAE-backed Yemeni security forces and UAE troops in the country have committed a range of egregious detention-related violations, including enforced disappearance torture, and arbitrary detention.
This conduct violates absolute prohibitions and cannot be justified under any circumstances, including in the context of armed conflict or counter-terrorism. Years of arbitrary arrests and the routine use of enforced disappearance have left hundreds of families in the dark about the fate of their loved ones.
This cruel an unlawful practice has become so rampant, that any time the UAE-backed forces detain someone, their families expect that they will be forcibly disappeared,” Amnesty said in its report titled “God only knows if he’s alive”.
These prisons controlled by militias trained and financed by the UAE operate outside the control of even Yemen government. In an embarrassment for UAE, their claim that they don’t run any such jails came to a naught when Yemeni Interior minister went public recently and asked them to shut down or handover these secret prisons.
Even Human Rights Watch had issued a report last year accusing UAE of arbitrary detention and forcible disappearances in areas controlled by them.
“The UAE also runs at least two informal detention facilities, and its officials appear to have ordered the continued detention of people despite release orders, and forcibly disappeared people, including reportedly moving high-profile detainees outside the country,” Human Rights Watch said in its report.
This is not the first time UAE has been accused of human rights violations by various rights bodies. Their action during the beginning of the Qatar blockade was criticised by many international bodies including the Amnesty International.
Thousands of people in the Gulf had their lives disrupted and families torn apart due to the arbitrary measures taken by the blockade countries.
“The situation that people across the Gulf have been placed in shows utter contempt for human dignity,” Amnesty had said.
As a Human Rights Watch official said UAE should place human rights at the center of their campaigns if they care about Yemen’s long-term stability.
