We have been given access to detention facilities on former United Arab Emirates military bases in Yemen, confirming long-standing allegations of a network of secret prisons run by the UAE and forces allied to it in Yemen's decade-long civil war. One former detainee said he had been beaten and sexually abused at one of the sites.
One of the sites had several shipping containers with little ventilation, where detainees said up to 60 men were held
We saw cells at two bases in the south of the country, including shipping containers with names - apparently of detainees - and dates scratched into the sides. The UAE did not respond to our request for comment, but has previously denied similar allegations.
Until recently, the Yemeni government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, was allied with the UAE against the Houthi rebel movement which controls north-west Yemen.
But the alliance between Yemen's two Gulf state partners has fractured. UAE forces pulled out of Yemen in early January and Yemeni government forces and groups allied to them have retaken large swathes of the south from separatists backed by the UAE.
FULL ARTICLE AT: Middle East | Latest News & Updates | BBC News
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