SANAA, Yemen — Dozens of prisoners at a detention centre in southern Yemen controlled by the United Arab Emirates said Monday they have started a hunger strike to protest their indefinite detentions without charges or trials. They said Aden prosecutors have ordered more than 70 detainees released but the prison’s Emirati commanders refuse to let them go. A Yemeni security official, speaking on condition of anonymity under regulations, said the government has no control over the prison or the power to release the detainees. The detainees, before they were transferred to Beir Ahmed, were among hundreds rounded up on terror charges and held in secret UAE-run detention centres in southern Yemen where prisoners were reportedly tortured. Over the past two years, the UAE has created a zone of influence in southern Yemen, sidelining Hadi’s government.

Source: National Post April 23, 2018 09:04 UTC