Hundreds of
men swept up in the hunt for al-Qaida militants have disappeared into
a secret network of prisons in southern Yemen where abuse is routine
and torture extreme — including the “grill,” in which the
victim is tied to a spit like a roast and spun in a circle of fire,
an Associated Press investigation has found.
Senior
American defense officials acknowledged Wednesday that U.S. forces
have been involved in interrogations of detainees in Yemen but denied
any participation in or knowledge of human rights abuses.
Interrogating detainees who have been abused could violate
international law, which prohibits complicity in torture.
The AP
documented at least 18 clandestine lockups across southern Yemen run
by the United Arab Emirates or by Yemeni forces created and trained
by the Gulf nation, drawing on accounts from former detainees,
families of prisoners, civil rights lawyers and Yemeni military
officials. All are either hidden or off limits to Yemen’s
government, which has been getting Emirati help in its civil war with
rebels over the last two years.
The secret
prisons are inside military bases, ports, an airport, private villas
and even a nightclub. Some detainees have been flown to an Emirati
base across the Red Sea in Eritrea, according to Yemen Interior
Minister Hussein Arab and others.
Several U.S.
defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the
topic, told AP that American forces do participate in interrogations
of detainees at locations in Yemen, provide questions for others to
ask, and receive transcripts of interrogations from Emirati allies.
They said U.S. senior military leaders were aware of allegations of
torture at the prisons in Yemen, looked into them, but were satisfied
that there had not been any abuse when U.S. forces were present.
Full
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