Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights advocate Tawakkol Karman has reiterated her rejection of UAE practices in Yemen, describing the GCC member of Saudi-led military coalition as “an occupier.”

"The UAE occupies my great and ancient country," wrote Karman in a statement on Facebook.

The residents of Yemeni Perim, a volcanic island in the Strait of Mandeb at the south entrance into the Red Sea, have been coerced into leaving their island and homes in return for financial compensation. 

Saudi-led Arab coalition announced early October 2015 that the island was completely secured by the coalition and the resistance forces from among its people. 

However, Arabi21 reported on early July that the United States provided President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government with images of a military base set up in the Yemeni island Mayon (or Perim) without the knowledge of the internationally recognised Yemeni government. 

The UAE, a member of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the putschists in Yemen, has recently been increasing its involvement in the war-torn country, backing the Southern Transitional Council in efforts to remove the authority of the legitimate president from the scene. 

Socotra Island is also another example of the dubious role played by the UAE in Yemen under the guise of long-term investment. 

Yemeni sources, requesting anonymity, stated that numerous Emirati envoys had already been sent to the island, where they kept paying large amounts of cash to local authorities, influential figures and tribal leaders to win their locality.

Earlier in last April, the deputy governor of Socotra, Ramzy Mahrous, was quoted as saying by al-Araby al-Jadeed newspaper that Abu Dhabi-based Rotana Jet airline had started direct flights to the Yemeni island.

Socotra is one of the biggest Yemeni islands in the Indian Ocean, and lies near the Gulf of Aden and some 350 kilometers from the Arabian Peninsula.

The island, which was part of Yemen’s eastern province of Hadhramaut, was declared as as an independent province based on a presidential decree issued in 2013.

In recent report, Human Rights Watch has mentioned that The UAE supports Yemeni forces that have arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared, tortured, and abused dozens of people during security operations. 

HRW also pointed out that the UAE runs at least two informal detention facilities, and its officials appear to have ordered the continued detention of people despite release orders, and forcibly disappeared people.