United Arab Emirates

The issue of enforced disappearances in Yemen has once again come to the forefront amid the waning influence of the Southern Transitional Council and its affiliated military formations backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This development follows the takeover by forces aligned with the internationally recognized government of the temporary capital, Aden, as well as the southern and eastern governorates, a shift that has offered victims’ families a renewed sense of hope in learning the fate of their missing relatives. 

On 24 December 2025, Alkarama submitted a complaint to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) regarding nine Yemeni nationals who were formerly detained in Guantánamo Bay. Having been deprived of their liberty by the United States for several years without charge or trial, they were transferred to the United Arab Emirates between 2015 and 2016 on the understanding that they would be released upon arrival.

Alkarama has learned, from Emirati human rights defense sources, of the death of political prisoner Ali Abdullah Al-Khaja in Al-Razeen Prison in Abu Dhabi. His health had severely deteriorated and he remained imprisoned for more than thirteen years despite a United Nations decision deeming his detention arbitrary and calling for his release.