Public Comment

Explosive new reports on a secret network of prisons run by the UAE in southern Yemen have just been published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Associated Press. Dozens of people, including children have been have been "arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared, tortured, and abused" in these prisons. 

As a close ally of the UAE, American forces reportedly participated in these interrogations. US special operations forces were dispatched to Yemen shortly after Trump became president. Former inmates describe being crammed into shipping containers smeared with feces and blindfolded for weeks on end. They said they were beaten, trussed up on the 'grill,' and sexually assaulted. The ‘grill’ is a barbaric torture device where the detainees are strapped and rolled over a fire like a rotisserie chicken. 

HRW stated that US forces witnessed the abuses but did not intervene. 

Tragically, we have lost our moral compass and our very soul. The Trump administration is obsessed with enriching the profits of defense contractors by flooding the Middle East with billions of weapons, totally unconcerned by the enormous civilian toll. One can only imagine the rage of surviving family members who watch their loved ones blown to pieces by US weapons. This is raw terrorism and we have been complicit in Middle East war crimes for decades. President Trump has just concluded sale of $110bn of weapons to the Saudis who continue to slaughter thousands of Yeminis with impunity. This must stop.