[C’mon, beating people with boards with nails in them? That’s not torture, or it is acceptable torture?]

UAE prince acquitted of torture charges

Sheikh Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan

An Abu Dhabi prince has been acquitted of charges of torturing an Afghan citizen after a United Arab Emirates court ruled he had been drugged and so was “unaware of his actions.”

Allegations against Sheikh Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the half brother of Abu Dhabi’s president, emerged after US network ABC aired a video in April that appears to show him torturing an Afghan grain dealer.

“The court acquitted Sheikh Issa after establishing he was not responsible,” for the torture, said his lawyer, Habib al-Mulla, on Sunday.

“The court accepted our defense that the sheikh was under the influence of drugs (medicine) that left him unaware of his actions,” he added.

The court in the oasis city of Al-Ain ordered Sheikh Issa to pay a “temporary compensation” of 10,000 dirhams ($2,724) to the Afghan, who can file a new lawsuit to claim full compensation, according to the lawyer.

The victim needed months of hospital care following the torture, during which he was beaten with whips, electric cattle prods, and a wooden plank with protruding nails.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) harshly criticized the trial, saying in a statement that the UAE “needs to do more than quietly prosecute Sheikh Issa… if it is to restore confidence in the country’s justice system”.

“If the UAE government really wants to stop torture and to restore its sullied image, one trial will not be enough,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW’s Middle East director.

Sheikh Issa was once charged with endangering a life, causing bodily harm, and rape in 2004.

He has been in custody for several months and was charged at an opening hearing in October.