GENEVA: The United Nations Committee against Torture called on Yemen yesterday to end the widespread torture of detainees and investigate allegations of unlawful killings by its security forces.

It voiced concern at reports of grave violations “committed in the context of (Yemen’s) fight against terrorism”. They included extrajudicial killings, disappearances, mass arrests, indefinite detention without charge or trial, torture, and the deporting of foreigners to states where they may face torture.

Political activists, journalists and rights defenders have been arrested arbitrarily and held incommunicado during fighting between the army and Shia rebels which began in August, the committee said. The rebels say they suffer religious, economic and social marginalisation and neglect. Their Nov. 3 cross-border raid into Saudi Arabia, the top oil exporter, has raised concern about the wider impact of instability in Yemen, one of the world’s poorest nations.

Allegations of torture in Yemen are seldom investigated or prosecuted and there appears to be “a climate of impunity” for the perpetrators, the UN body said.