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The Yemeni Interior Minister has asked the United Arab Emirates to close or hand over secret prisons which, according to the Associated Press, are under the control of the UAE and their allied militias.
At least 80 inmates have been released from facilities in recent weeks since an AP investigation detailed badual abuse and torture at the sites.
It was the first time that the Minister of the Interior, Ahmed al-Maysari, issued the request in negotiations with an Emirati official, appearing to contradict repeated refusals of the UAE to have authority over prisons in Yemen.
The AP reported for the first time in a survey last year that the UAE and its allied militias were managing a network of secret detention centers around southern Yemen, outside the control of the government of the country. Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Former prisoners and security officials described the widespread torture in facilities, which are located in locations ranging from military bases run by the Emirates to an old nightclub run by a security chief backed by the UAE and its anti-terrorist team.
Thousands of Yemenis swept into the US-backed campaign against al-Qaeda were detained in jails without charge or trial. Some have been questioned by US staff inside facilities, the AP found.
In June, the AP revealed that hundreds of people had been badually abused, including an incident in Beir Ahmed prison in Aden, in the south of the country, where detainees were lined up naked while the guards probed their bad cavities. Sexual abuse was filmed as a way to turn suspects into informants, detainees reported.
On Sunday, Anwar Gargash, UAE Foreign Minister, described as "false news" information that his country controls prisons or has set up a base on the Yemeni island of Socotra.
"In Yemen, the emirates have been subjected to an unfair defamation campaign because they are taking responsibility for regional security with courage and daring," he said.
In the three-year civil war in Yemen, the UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition against Iran-backed rebels known as the Houthis who have invaded most of northern Yemen .
Ostensibly, the Emiratis and the Hadi government are allies in this fight. But tensions were high between them.
The UAE has built militias across southern Yemen that government officials claim to be only loyal to the Emirati.
These forces have invaded vast tracts of territory in the south, including cities and towns. On the other hand, the official security forces are fragmented and poorly funded.
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2018
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