David Epperly is the executive director of Mideast Monitor. He formerly served as the executive director of the American Lebanese League (ALL) and as a board member of other organizations. A recognized expert on Middle East affairs and US foreign policy, he has provided testimony to the US Congress on numerous occasions.

As the American political establishment debated the merits of torture as an instrument of intelligence gathering over the summer, a viral video depicting unspeakable acts of cruelty by a prominent Arabian prince raised equally profound questions about the ethical obligations of those who formulate national security policy. Few in the Obama administration appeared to take notice.

The 45-minute video, excerpts of which were first aired publicly by ABC's Nightline in April, is arguably the most appalling display of real sadistic violence ever broadcast on American television. The star of the video is Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the brother of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, the wealthiest of seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In the video, Issa is shown torturing an Afghan grain merchant who he believed had over-billed him by around $5,000. Assisted by uniformed police, the prince sodomizes his bound victim with a cattle prod, uses lighter fluid to set fire to his testicles, pours salt on his wounds, and runs over his legs with an SUV. The video was not recorded clandestinely, but at the behest of Issa himself, so that he could enjoy watching it later - at one point during the taping, he instructs the cameraman, "Get closer. Get closer. Get closer. Let his suffering show."[1]

Prince Issa's big mistake was to entrust the video for safekeeping to one of his aides, Lebanese-born Houston businessman Bassam Nabulsi. When a financial dispute later erupted between the two, Nabulsi declined to give the video back. He claims that the prince then had him imprisoned and tortured in order to force him into relinquishing it. After being released and smuggling the video out of the UAE, in 2007 Nabulsi filed a lawsuit against Issa in a federal court in Houston. After Issa failed to offer appropriate restitution, Nabulsi sent excerpts of the video to every member of Congress and a number of media outlets. Only ABC chose to air the footage.

The revelation could not have come at a worse time for the UAE, which has spent enormous sums of money projecting itself as an oasis of modernization and culture in the Arabian desert. It hosts two annual film festivals that attract A-list Hollywood celebrities, and the Abu Dhabi Media Company has invested $2 billion in Hollywood.[2] The Louvre and Guggenheim museums have been lured by petrodollars to establish branches in Abu Dhabi.

In a statement to ABC broadcast in conjunction with the initial airing of the video, the UAE government acknowledged that the man shown in the footage is Issa, but insisted that "the incidents depicted in the video tapes were not part of a pattern of behavior." The government said that the victim, Mohammed Shah Poor, had agreed not to press charges against Issa. "All rules, policies and procedures were followed correctly by the Police Department."[3]

Although the video became a growing topic of private discussion inside the beltway in the weeks after ABC's initial broadcast, other US media outlets initially refused to touch the story (in contrast to the British media, which covered it mainly because Issa's half brother happens to own a Manchester soccer team).[4] Human Rights Watch played a major role in keeping the story in the public eye. "The government's failure to prosecute those involved in this undisputed incident of torture and abuse at the hands of a royal family member and the police is an appalling miscarriage of justice," said Sarah Leah Whitson, the group's Middle East director.[5]

Obama administration officials were also reluctant to speak publicly about the videotape. When State Department spokesman Robert Wood was asked about the torture following ABC's broadcast, he called it an "alleged act" in spite of the fact that millions of people had seen the footage and the UAE had confirmed Issa to be the culprit. Repeatedly asked whether Washington had communicated any concerns to the UAE government, Wood referred the reporter to the State Department's annual country report on human rights practices five different times during the briefing.[6] However, the aforementioned report called the torture allegation "unverifiable" (a word rarely used in reference to torture allegations in other State Department country reports).[7]

The issue caused more of a stir in Congress. Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) called for Issa to be refused US visas and for a freeze on American military and technological assistance to the UAE until it properly investigates the crime. "I cannot describe the horror and revulsion I felt when witnessing what is on this video," he wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.[8]

The growing controversy forced President Obama to delay seeking congressional ratification of a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with the UAE that was drafted just before his predecessor left office. After the video was screened at a meeting of the House Human Rights Commission in mid-May, prominent congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle expressed opposition to the agreement. "A country where the laws can be flouted by the rich and powerful is not a country that can safeguard sensitive U.S. nuclear technology," said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA), the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment.[9] "There is much to be done before [the] UAE can be considered a model partner for a nuclear cooperation agreement with the US," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL).[10]

In response to the congressional outcry (and, according to a reliable Washington source, private entreaties by the Obama administration), the UAE government announced that Issa was under house arrest pending the outcome of a criminal investigation. This was sufficient cause for the Obama administration to formally approve the nuclear agreement on May 21. The agreement will enter into force in October unless Congress explicitly acts to block it. With billions of dollars in defense and nuclear reactor contracts on the line, Arab cooperation vis-a-vis Iran at a premium, and France recently opening a military base in the UAE, this is unlikely.

Since May, few details have emerged about the investigation. In July, the UAE state news agency quoted an unidentified judicial official as saying that the Abu Dhabi prosecutors' office is "carrying out its investigation and engaging with those involved in the case in order to reach a clear understanding of all the pertinent aspects and circumstances." The official said that "guaranteeing a fair and impartial trial for all persons involved" is a goal of the investigation, though it's not clear whether this means the prince will, in fact, go on trial.[11] With no congressional action to block the UAE nuclear deal in the offing, Nabusli predicts that the investigation will go nowhere.

Notes

  [1] Secret torture tapes revealed, ABC News, 22 April 2009. Graphic details of the video not shown in the ABC excerpts are described by Human Rights Watch, Letter to the UAE on the Torture of Mohammed Shah Poor, 28 April 2009.
  [2] "Reaching for a Higher Profile, Abu Dhabi Opens a Hub for Western Media," The New York Times, 13 October 2008.
  [3] Secret torture tapes revealed, op cit.
  [4] Wealthy brother of UK football chief linked to gruesome Gulf 'torture tape', The Observer (London), 26 April 2009.
  [5] UAE: Prosecute Torture by Royal Family Member, Human Rights Watch, 28 April 2009.
  [6] US Department of State daily press briefing, 23 April 2009.
  [7] US Department of State, 2008 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: The United Arab Emirates, 25 February 2009.
  [8] "Abu Dhabi ruling family linked to 'torture' video," The Telegraph (London), 26 April 2009.
  [9] Markey: UAE Torture Tapes 'Horrific', Office of Congressman Edward J. Markey, 13 May 2009.
  [10] "UAE Torture Tape Complicates Nuclear Deal," Inter Press Service, 21 May 2009.
  [11] "UAE pledges fair trial of royal on torture claims," Agence France Presse, 6 July 2009.