CAIRO: Their mothers and sisters cried with joy and women from the neighbourhood ululated as 46 Yemeni detainees walked free on Tuesday after months or years spent in detention in one of several prisons controlled by the United Arab Emirates in southern Yemen.

It was the third batch of prisoners released after The Associated Press revealed that hundreds of Yemenis swept up in anti-terror raids by Emirati-backed forces have been subjected to torture and sexual abuse aimed at brutalising the detainees and extracting “confessions” as part of a US-backed anti-terror campaign.

Images posted on social media show the freed men grinning and flashing V signs for victory as their loved ones and neighbours hugged and kissed them in Aden.

The saga of the detainees from the Beir Ahmed prison in Aden is linked to the brutal civil war that has roiled the Arab world’s poorest country, where a Saudi-led coalition, of which the UAE is a leading member, is at war with Iran-aligned rebels known as Houthis, who control the capital.

Prosecutor Mohammed Ali Saleh confirmed the release of the 46 on Tuesday, without elaborating, while the detainees themselves gave The Associated Press a list with their names.

Among them was 23-year-old Saddam al-Azazi, held since June of last year. His mother said she fainted when she heard the news and that her daughters had to carry her to see him.

Other prisoners despaired at not being included among those released, with one trying to kill himself by taking pills, according to two witnesses who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals. Prison officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

According to AP reporting, in an incident on March 10, inmates in Beir Ahmed were forced to undress as Emirati officers searched their anal cavities, claiming to be looking for contraband cellphones. Drawings smuggled out by a Yemeni detainee at Beir Ahmed gave a grim glimpse into a hidden world of flagrant human rights abuses by UAE officers acting with impunity in several other prisons.

Families in Aden and the southern city of Mukalla have been holding near daily demonstrations calling on the coalition to implement the prosecutor’s orders and free their sons after they were cleared of any accusations.

A father of one of the detainees showed the AP a document from the state prosecutor instructing other prosecutors to implement the release order.

The UAE has denied it runs prisons in Yemen, insisting the Yemeni government is in full control. But Yemen’s Interior Minister Ahmed al-Maysari says he has no control over the prisons.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2018