United Arab Emirates forces are accused of running a secret prison in Yemen's Dabba area in the eastern city of Mukalla.
Asharq Al-Awsat toured the facility, bearing witness to the dire conditions in which the detainees were held as they waited in despair for their fate.
The walls themselves tell a story of despair with prisoners having etched pleas for mercy and prayers to God, with one prisoner writing a single word - "mother" - summing up his suffering.
Asharq Al-Awsat entered the facility as part of a tour for the media and rights groups. The UAE is accused of running several illegal prisons in Yemen, setting them up without coordination with the legitimate authorities.
Minister of Media, Tourism and Culture Moammar Al-Eryani said these detention centers are not affiliated with the state.
Dabba, he added, embodies the illegal practices that used to happen outside the state's control.
The state did not task any local or foreign party to set up the detention centers where prisoners have been tortured, he said.
These practices are a flagrant violation of the Yemeni constitution, international law and humanitarian law, he stressed.
"Cells" at Dabba were nothing more than steel containers of varying sizes, some as small as 1 mete by 50 centimeters.
Along with the writings on the wall, Asharq Al-Awsat noted the blood stains in the cells, reflecting the horrors the detainees had to endure.
Al-Eryani said the state was restoring the rule of law, not seeking to settle scores. "Opening these facilities to the media is a message that the state was not afraid of the truth. Rather it wants to document it and tackle the issue through legal means," he added.
"We are not asking for political cover, but support for the state of law," he urged.
A Yemeni military source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Dabba facility used to be a military air defense base.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he revealed that people were held in the prison without charge, while those freed usually ended up suffering from severe trauma.
