UAE president's brother acquitted of beating, raping Afghan man

Sun, 10 Jan 2010

Dubai - An Emirati court on Sunday acquitted Sheikh Issa bin-Zayed al-Nahyan, the brother of the president of the United Arab Emirates, of charges that he badly beat and raped an Afghan man. The court ruled that Sheikh Issa, 40, could not be held responsible for his actions because he was under the influence of painkillers, one of his lawyers told the German Press Agency dpa.

A videotape aired by the US television network ABC in April showed al-Nayhan and policemen beating an Afghan grain dealer with whips and wooden planks with protruding nails in 2004, pouring salt on his wounds, then running him over with a car.

Sheikh Issa was charged with rape, causing bodily harm and endangering a life.

"We have made every effort to secure a verdict of innocence in this case," the lawyer Habib al-Mulla said.

"The court found that he was not responsible (for his actions), because he had been given anesthetics and drugs," al-Mulla said. "The tape was made to blackmail him."

The sheikh's former business partners Bassam and Ghassan Nabulsi, who made the video, were sentenced in absentia to five years in prison each.

"All individuals are equal before the law," the UAE's office of human rights and the judiciary said in a statement. "There is no discrimination between citizens on the grounds of origin, domicile, religious belief or social status."

Sheikh Issa, though a royal, holds no position in the UAE government.

"The government of Abu Dhabi explicitly condemns the acts ... that appeared on the tape," it said.

The matter had been settled "between the parties in the case," the statement noted, "and none of the parties involved asked for criminal charges to be filed." The statement did not provide details.

The government's office of human rights said the government "considered that the events depicted on the tape required a comprehensive review to ensure respect for human rights."

The court's verdict came as German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle's landed in the country for a series of high-level meetings.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/302973,uae-presidents-brother-acquitted-of-beating-raping-afghan-man.html.