Inside Yemen's Secret UAE-Run Prisons: BBC Investigation

Access to Secret Detention Facilities

• 🔓 For the first time, cameras were allowed inside secret prisons located on former UAE military bases in southern Yemen.
• 🗺️ The Yemeni government, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, facilitated this escorted visit, exposing the operations of their former coalition partner, the UAE.
• 🔍 Investigations into these prisons have been ongoing for years, with victims reporting their existence, but concrete evidence was elusive until now.

Conditions and Torture Allegations

• 📦 At one site, shipping containers with black interiors and minimal ventilation were used as cells, with detainees marking dates or days held on the walls.
• ⛓️ A former prisoner, speaking anonymously due to fear of reprisal, detailed experiencing all types of torture, including sexual abuse.
• 👨‍⚕️ The former detainee reported that an Emirati soldier posing as a doctor administered beatings and ordered soldiers to do the same.
• 😥 The psychological toll was severe, leading the former prisoner to attempt suicide multiple times.

Geopolitical Context and UAE Withdrawal

• ⚠️ The BBC's access comes after a period of fractured alliances between the UAE and Saudi Arabia in late December.
• 💥 Saudi Arabia conducted a strike in Mukala, reportedly a warning to the UAE for allegedly delivering weapons to southern Yemeni separatists.
• 🛡️ The UAE had established a powerful counterterrorism force in southern Yemen, the vacuum of which the Yemeni government is now seeking to fill.
• 🇾🇪 Yemen's future remains uncertain amidst the ongoing power struggle between its Gulf state partners, following a decade of war.

UAE Response

• ❓ The UAE was approached for comment regarding the allegations but did not respond to the BBC's request.