UAE torture Sheikh acquitted 14, January 2010
Posted by thegulfblog.com in American ME Relations, The Emirates.Tags: Abu Dhabi torture, Issa torture, Shiekh Issa, Torture, Torture case, UAE torture
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I haven’t commented on the recent judicial decision to acquit Shiekh Issa bin Zayad Al Nayhan of all torture charges in the UAE, mostly because it is practically too depressing for words. I’ll just jot down a few thoughts.
- Five of the seven men present when the man was being tortured were sentenced, including an Indian, a Syrian and a Palestinian.
- That is to say that the man who ran over him with a car, stuffed a cattle prod up his anus, stuffed sand in his mouth, set his genitals alight, hit him with a stick with a nail in the end, poured salt – quite literally – over his wounds has not been sentenced at all.
- Sheikh Issa was found not guilty because he was ‘drugged’ at the time and an Indian cook at his house has been sentenced to three years in jail for aiding in this dastardly plot
- To my knowledge, no medical evidence has been shown of drugs in Issa’s system
- This time last year the US signed a sharing nuclear technology deal with the Emirates
- Sheikh Issa is the brother of the ruler of Abu Dhabi who is also the President of the United Arab Emirates…you know…the Khalifah as in Burj Khalifah
- The Afghan man who was tortured was given a large out of court settlement by the family of Shiekh Issa. He – amazingly – agrees with Sheikh Issa that the torture was, in fact, not Issa’s fault
- The defense council (of the two men ‘guilty’ of drugging Issa) offered “two hours of videos of Shiekh Issa torturing other men” but this was not accepted into evidence.
- I’ll say that again: THERE IS APPARENTLY AT LEAST TWO HOURS OF FOOTAGE OF ISSA TORTURING AT LEAST 20 (TWENTY} OTHER MEN.
The verdict is a farce, and shows why the world should have no confidence in the [United Arab Emirates’] justice system. This was a show trial, held completely in secret, with one objective: to relieve international pressure on the ruling family so that the pending military treaty with the U.S. would go forward. The fact is, and the evidence is clear, Sheikh Issa tortured numerous people and he ordered the torture to be videotaped. The sheikh’s abhorrent behavior also was not isolated. I offered the U.A.E. authorities additional videotape indicating that at least 20 other people were tortured by the sheikh. […] The Obama administration, like the Bush administration, continues to coddle the U.A.E. and look past serious human rights and security concerns there.
Tony Buzbee – Defense lawyer
The Gulf blog 
[…] utter travesty of justice comes soon after Sheikh Issa, a brother of the UAE’s ruler, was set free after a video of him torturing at length an Afghan man was publicised. He was, so the court […]