The saga of the detainees from the Bir Ahmad prison in Aden is one of many tragic twists in the brutal civil war that has roiled the Arab world's most impoverished country where an Arab-led coalition, of which the UAE is a part, is fighting Yemen's rebels to restore to power the country's internationally recognized government.

Drawings smuggled out by a Yemeni detainee at Bir Ahmad gave a grim glimpse into a hidden world of flagrant human rights abuses by UAE officers acting with impunity in several other prisons.

The UAE has denied it runs prisons in Yemen, insisting the Yemeni government is in full control.

U.S. officials have acknowledged that American forces receive intelligence from UAE partners and have participated in interrogations in Yemen.

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