BBC sees UAE-run secret prisons

[ad_1] Nawal Al-Maghafi Senior worldwide investigations correspondent, Yemen

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/a527/live/13dc10e0-f7c6-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/a527/live/13dc10e0-f7c6-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a527/live/13dc10e0-f7c6-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/a527/live/13dc10e0-f7c6-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/a527/live/13dc10e0-f7c6-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/a527/live/13dc10e0-f7c6-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/a527/live/13dc10e0-f7c6-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a527/live/13dc10e0-f7c6-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Liam weir / BBC One white shipping container and two grey ones are seen on a gravel area with sandy hills behind them. A small white building with a water tank on it is next to one of them." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Liam weir / BBC One of many websites had a number of delivery containers with little air flow, the place detainees mentioned as much as 60 males had been held

The BBC has been given entry to detention services on former United Arab Emirates navy bases in Yemen, confirming long-standing allegations of a community of secret prisons run by the UAE and forces allied to it in Yemen's decade-long civil warfare.

One former detainee advised the BBC he had been crushed and sexually abused at one of many websites.

We noticed cells at two bases within the south of the nation, together with delivery containers with names - apparently of detainees - and dates scratched into the perimeters.

The UAE didn't reply to our request for remark, however has beforehand denied related allegations.

Till not too long ago, the Yemeni authorities, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, was allied with the UAE in opposition to the Houthi insurgent motion which controls north-west Yemen.

However the alliance between Yemen's two Gulf state companions has fractured. UAE forces pulled out of Yemen in early January and Yemeni authorities forces and teams allied to them have retaken giant swathes of the south from separatists backed by the UAE.

This contains the port of Mukalla, the place we landed in a Saudi navy aircraft and had been taken to go to the previous UAE navy bases within the Al-Dhaba Oil Export Space.

It has been nearly inconceivable for worldwide journalists to get visas to report from Yemen in recent times, however the authorities invited reporters to view the 2 websites, accompanied by Yemen's Data Minister Moammar al-Eryani.

What we noticed was according to accounts we've gathered independently, each in our earlier reporting and likewise interviews performed in Yemen, individually from the government-run web site go to.

'No area to lie down'

At one web site, there have been about 10 delivery containers, their interiors painted black, with little air flow.

Messages on the partitions appeared to mark the dates detainees mentioned they had been introduced in, or to rely the variety of days that they had been held.

A number of had been dated as not too long ago as December 2025.

At one other navy base, the BBC was proven eight cells constructed from brick and cement, together with a number of measuring about one metre sq. and two metres tall, which Eryani mentioned had been used for solitary confinement.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/7ba6/live/b5ec8f90-f7c6-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/7ba6/live/b5ec8f90-f7c6-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7ba6/live/b5ec8f90-f7c6-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/7ba6/live/b5ec8f90-f7c6-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/7ba6/live/b5ec8f90-f7c6-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/7ba6/live/b5ec8f90-f7c6-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/7ba6/live/b5ec8f90-f7c6-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7ba6/live/b5ec8f90-f7c6-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Liam Weir / BBC Photo looking down showing the lower part of a cell that is about a metre by a metre in size, with a concrete floor and white-painted walls. Its tall black door is open." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Liam Weir / BBC One web site had a number of cells that had been a few metre sq., which the Yemeni authorities mentioned had been used for solitary confinement

Human rights teams have documented testimony describing such services for years.

Yemeni lawyer Huda al-Sarari has been gathering accounts.

The BBC independently attended a gathering she organised, the place about 70 individuals had been current who mentioned that they had been held in Mukalla, in addition to the households of one other 30 who they mentioned their relations had been nonetheless in detention.

A number of former detainees advised us that every delivery container may maintain as much as 60 males at a time.

They mentioned prisoners had been blindfolded, sure on the wrists and compelled to stay sitting upright in any respect hours.

"There was no area to lie down," one former prisoner advised the BBC. "If somebody collapsed, the others needed to maintain him up."

'All varieties of torture'

The person additionally advised the BBC he was crushed for 3 days after his arrest, with interrogators demanding he confess to being a member of al-Qaeda - an accusation he denies.

"They advised me if I did not admit it, I might be despatched to 'Guantanamo'," he mentioned, referring to the US navy detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

"I did not even know what they meant by Guantanamo till they took me to their jail. Then I understood."

He mentioned he was held there for a 12 months and a half, crushed every day and abused.

"They did not even feed us correctly," he mentioned. "When you needed the bathroom, they took you as soon as. Generally you had been so determined you probably did it on your self."

He says his captors included Emirati troopers in addition to Yemeni fighters: "All varieties of torture - once we had been interrogated it was the worst. They even sexually abused us and mentioned they might convey within the 'physician'.

"This so-called physician was Emirati. He beat us and advised the Yemeni troopers to beat us too. I attempted to kill myself a number of instances to make it finish."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/50a2/live/dc7d6980-f83f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/50a2/live/dc7d6980-f83f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/50a2/live/dc7d6980-f83f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/50a2/live/dc7d6980-f83f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/50a2/live/dc7d6980-f83f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/50a2/live/dc7d6980-f83f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/50a2/live/dc7d6980-f83f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/50a2/live/dc7d6980-f83f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Liam Weir / BBC Black-painted wall with dates in Arabic scratched into it" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Liam Weir / BBC Dates had been scratched into the black sides of the delivery containers

The UAE was main a counter-terror marketing campaign in southern Yemen, however human rights teams say hundreds of individuals had been detained in crackdowns on political activists and critics.

A mom advised us her son was detained as an adolescent and has been held for 9 years.

"My son was an athlete," she mentioned. "He had simply come again from competing overseas. That day he went to the gymnasium and by no means got here again."

"I did not hear from him for seven months," she mentioned.

"Then they let me see him for 10 minutes. I may see all of the scars of the torture."

She alleged that within the jail on the Emirati-run base, her teenage son was electrocuted, doused with ice-cold water and sexually abused a number of instances.

She says she attended a listening to through which her son's accusers performed a recording of him apparently confessing.

"You may hear him being crushed within the background and advised what to say," she mentioned. "My son shouldn't be a terrorist. You've robbed him of the perfect years of his life."

Testimony and allegations

Over the previous decade, human rights teams and media organisations - together with the BBC and Related Press - have documented allegations of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and torture in detention centres run by the UAE and its allies.

Human Rights Watch mentioned in 2017 it had gathered testimonies of detainees held with out cost or judicial oversight in unofficial services, and subjected to beatings, electrical shocks and different types of sick therapy.

The UAE denied these allegations once they had been made.

The BBC despatched detailed allegations to the UAE authorities in regards to the detention websites we visited and accounts of abuse, however obtained no response.

All sides have been accused of human rights violations within the civil warfare, which has sparked a devastating humanitarian disaster within the nation.

Households' questions

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/aaf1/live/ca158db0-f7ca-11f0-a3ac-ab14cd58b409.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/aaf1/live/ca158db0-f7ca-11f0-a3ac-ab14cd58b409.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/aaf1/live/ca158db0-f7ca-11f0-a3ac-ab14cd58b409.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/aaf1/live/ca158db0-f7ca-11f0-a3ac-ab14cd58b409.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/aaf1/live/ca158db0-f7ca-11f0-a3ac-ab14cd58b409.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/aaf1/live/ca158db0-f7ca-11f0-a3ac-ab14cd58b409.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/aaf1/live/ca158db0-f7ca-11f0-a3ac-ab14cd58b409.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/aaf1/live/ca158db0-f7ca-11f0-a3ac-ab14cd58b409.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Fadel SENNA / AFP via Getty Image Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani speaking with a lot of journalists' microphones in front of him. He is bald with a beard and mustache, and is standing in front of a brick and cement building." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Fadel SENNA / AFP through Getty Picture Minister Moammar al-Eryani mentioned victims had advised the federal government the prisons existed, "however we did not consider it was true"

Households of detainees advised the BBC that they had repeatedly raised considerations with Yemeni authorities.

They consider it might have been inconceivable for the UAE and its allies to run a detention community with out the Yemeni authorities and its Saudi backers understanding about it.

The data minister, Eryani, mentioned: "We weren't capable of entry places that had been underneath UAE management till now.

"After we liberated them we found these prisons… we had been advised by many victims that they existed however we did not consider it was true."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/adf2/live/773f8510-f7dd-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/adf2/live/773f8510-f7dd-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/adf2/live/773f8510-f7dd-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/adf2/live/773f8510-f7dd-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/adf2/live/773f8510-f7dd-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/adf2/live/773f8510-f7dd-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/adf2/live/773f8510-f7dd-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/adf2/live/773f8510-f7dd-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.png.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Map showing how Yemeni government-affiliated forces now control most of the east of Yemen, including Mukalla which is on the southern coast. A section in the west, including the capital Sanaa, is controlled by Houthi forces." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> His authorities's choice to offer entry to worldwide media comes because the rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE is widening.

Their long-strained relationship deteriorated in December when UAE-backed southern separatists, the Southern Transition Council (STC), seized territory managed by authorities forces in two western provinces.

Saudi Arabia then carried out a strike on what it mentioned was a cargo of weapons from the UAE to the STC in Mukalla, and backed a requirement from Yemen's presidential council for Emirati forces to depart the nation instantly.

The UAE withdrew and inside days authorities forces and their allies retook management of the western provinces in addition to the entire south.

Nevertheless, remaining separatists threaten the federal government's place in some locations, together with the southern port of Aden.

The UAE denied that the cargo had contained weapons and likewise Saudi allegations that it was behind the STC's current navy marketing campaign.

Detainees 'nonetheless held'

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/7366/live/56d8a3c0-f7cd-11f0-96f6-e58e07ac2c27.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/7366/live/56d8a3c0-f7cd-11f0-96f6-e58e07ac2c27.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7366/live/56d8a3c0-f7cd-11f0-96f6-e58e07ac2c27.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/7366/live/56d8a3c0-f7cd-11f0-96f6-e58e07ac2c27.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/7366/live/56d8a3c0-f7cd-11f0-96f6-e58e07ac2c27.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/7366/live/56d8a3c0-f7cd-11f0-96f6-e58e07ac2c27.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/7366/live/56d8a3c0-f7cd-11f0-96f6-e58e07ac2c27.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7366/live/56d8a3c0-f7cd-11f0-96f6-e58e07ac2c27.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Fadel SENNA / AFP via Getty Images A woman clad in black walks in a street with buildings on both sides , with a man on a motorbike behind her and a mosque minaret in the background" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Fadel SENNA / AFP through Getty Photographs Mukalla was managed by forces allied to the UAE till early January

On 12 January 2026, the president of Yemen's Presidential Management Council, which oversees the federal government, Rashad al-Alimi, ordered the closure of all "unlawful" prisons in southern provinces beforehand managed by the STC, demanding the quick launch of these "held exterior the framework of the legislation".

Eryani mentioned some detainees had been found contained in the services, however didn't give numbers or additional particulars.

Some relations - together with the mom of the athlete - advised the BBC that detainees have since been transferred to prisons now nominally underneath authorities management.

Yemeni authorities say transferring prisoners into the formal justice system is advanced, whereas rights teams warn arbitrary detention could merely proceed underneath completely different management.