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Published on: 02/20/2026 - 9:59 p.m.

After the withdrawal of the United Arab Emirates, support of the separatist movement of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), from Yemen, several clandestine prisons were discovered in the province of Hadramout. Opponents, journalists and activists were reportedly locked up and tortured there for a decade.

Under strong pressure from Saudi Arabia after strikes and an ultimatum, the United Arab Emirates announced on December 30, 2025 the end of their military presence in Yemen and the withdrawal of their last units, particularly in the provinces of Hadramout and Al-Mahra in the south-east of the country. Supported by the United Arab Emirates until its withdrawal from the country, the separatist movement of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) was officially dissolved. But the movement still retains control over certain areas in the Aden region.

It is in this context that the Hadramout authorities revealed the existence of secret prisons.

According to NGOs, including Amnesty International, they were operated by the Emirates and their CTS allies, from 2015 to 2025, to detain and disappear mainly political opponents, journalists, activists and suspected Al-Qaeda sympathizers. According to testimonies collected by Amnesty International, torture was practiced there systematically.

“One of the cells is barely big enough for a person to stand in”

Ibrahim Jalal is a researcher specializing in security and defense issues. During a press trip organized by Saudi Arabia, he was able to visit three of these centers: one at al-Rayyan airport near Mukalla, and two others in the Dabbah district of Hadramout province.

On al-Dhabba Hill, there are facilities where signs of torture can be seen. One of the two cells is a very narrow space, barely big enough for a person to stand in. This is called "Daghata" (compression), and it is generally used for torture: it is impossible to sit or lie down there. This place is narrow, poorly ventilated and dimly lit. The conditions there are inhumane and unlivable in every way.”

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The day after this visit, a Yemeni commission of inquiry organized a public testimony session, where more than a hundred detainees and their families described torture.

The Emirates, for their part, denied the existence of these centers, calling the allegations “false, misleading and baseless”.

“Graffiti that expresses injustice and oppression.”

NGOs and media report the existence of a network of at least 18 unofficial places of detention documented between 2016 and 2018.

Among the things we saw in these secret detention centers was graffiti that expressed injustice and oppression. For example, in one of the photos we see the detainee's name, with the word "unjustly detained" written underneath. And some counted the days and months, even years spent there. Graffiti on the wall of a cell in a secret detention center in al-Dabbah, southern Yemen. © @IbrahimJalalYE In another photo, we can read “Haram” (“unjust”), which sums up the oppression suffered.

“We also fear that the people incarcerated in these prisons have been eliminated”

Although several dozen detainees were released with the withdrawal of the Emirates, the fate of many others remains unknown. Ummat al-Salam al-Haj is director of the Association of Mothers of Abductees.

Until now, in the prisons that have been discovered in Hadramout, Mahra, Socotra and other regions, there was no detainee or missing person among those reported by our association: we have not found anyone. We also fear that people incarcerated in these prisons have been eliminated or taken outside Yemen, for example. We submitted a list of 62 forcibly disappeared to the governor of Aden,(....) but none reappeared."

The association of mothers of the disappeared regularly organizes rallies, notably in front of the headquarters of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), the Yemeni government recognized by the international community, to demand investigations into the fate of their missing relatives and prosecute those responsible.

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