The Donald Trump administration is calling on the United Arab Emirates to allow independent monitors to probe alleged incidents of torture in detention facilities in Yemen, just months after the Pentagon insisted that it had no evidence of detainee abuse.

In a joint March report to Congress on US strategy in Yemen seen by Al-Monitor, the State and Defense departments and the US Agency for International Development said the United States had “raised serious concern with the UAE” over the alleged abuse and “urged them to conduct a thorough investigation and allow access for independent monitors.” 

Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, a Pentagon spokeswoman, told Al-Monitor on Tuesday that senior Defense Department officials raised the allegations with Emirati counterparts before submitting a separate report to Congress about the alleged abuses in December. In that report, the Pentagon said it had not found “credible information indicating that US allies or partners have abused detainees in Yemen.”

The US pressure follows mounting evidence of torture and abuse in UAE-run prisons from the United Nations and human rights groups.