According to a US state department official, a member of the royal family in Abu Dhabi has been arrested after he was exposed on video performing bizarre acts of torture on an Afghan grain dealer. The official has confirmed that the government of the United Arab Emirates have emphasized a house arrest on Sheikh Issa Bin Zayed Nahyan, while an investigation is still pending.
On the tape Sheikh Issa seems agitated and enraged, complaining the Afghan grain dealer cheated him over a business matter. The torture was an attempt to extract a confession from the Afghan grain dealer.
Inside the tape:
With the assistance of a private security officer, Sheikh Issa is captured on tape, stuffing sand in the Afghan’s mouth. As the grain leader pleads and shrieks, he is beaten with a nailed board, burned in the genitals with a lighter, shocked with a cattle prod and is told that he will be shot. Salt is poured on his wounds, literally. Eventually, an SUV is driven over him.
The tape appears to be shot in a desert in the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, and is recorded by the direction of the Sheikh quite himself.
The tape of the horrific torture showdown has apparently delayed the development of a civil nuclear deal among the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America, the senior US officials familiar with the case stated. The reason for halting the deal temporarily has been a cause of the possible "sensitivities" that may occur.
The tape arrived last month in a federal civil lawsuit, at Houston, Texas, by Bassam Nabulsi.
Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East Human rights watch has said: "The videotape of this episode shocked the world. The report of the arrest was reassuring, but now the government needs to make the details public. Secretive prosecutions will not deter further abuses and torture."
The torture lasts for approximately 45 minutes, while the tape is three hours long.
The government of the United Arab Emirates have demanded a "comprehensive review" of the tape and plan on to investigate the case in full motion.
Sheikh Issa Bin Zayed, is the half brother of UAE’s ruler but he holds no position in the government
The grain dealer although, managed to survive the torture, and according the UAE government, the issue had been resolved privately by the Sheikh and the grain dealer later on, it is not known where the Afghan dealer is present right now.
The dispute was told to be held over a $ 5000 deal.